The Black Planet (15 page)

Chapter 28

‘That’s the last one captain.’

‘Thanks Hailey.’

The freighter began to break orbit.  Inside its hold there were hundreds of tons of metal salvaged from dead satellites.  It had taken days of sifting through the garbage that circled our planet to complete the task.  A few choice items from the space age had been returned to earth as Museum pieces.  Most were small enough to beam down; they had tried to piggyback the ancient Mir Space Station but it had broken up on re-entry; a loss Steven felt keenly.  A few companies back on Earth did kick up a stink about their satellites being stolen, but as they had been designated space garbage years before they were very quickly silenced.

The Earth Defence Ship the EDF Rodriguez, named after a Spanish entrepreneur who had left a vast fortune to the new Space Corps on his death; lifted up from Scotland.  It was now the third one built and identical to the one they had reclaimed from the Black Planet.  It turned towards Mercury and disappeared into the black.  Steven watched it go and turned his mind back to his task in hand.

‘Satellite relays in position Stevie,’ Buzz told him.

‘The freighters?’

‘Will be by the time we hit that dump.’

‘Right Hailey take us down.’

He spotted the long line of freighters sliding into orbit before they were out of line of sight.  They entered American airspace and hovered over the sight of an old dump outside Washington DC.  ‘Everyone is in position Stevie.’ 

‘Begin.’

Buzz got up and went over to a monitor that displayed the inside of the freighter.  A beam of light lanced out of Babes and into the dump.  Another light lanced skywards.  ‘Relay stations working captain.’  Hailey reported.

‘Thanks Hailey, what's happening Buzz?’

‘Nothing yet; Wait, here it comes.  It’s working Stevie.’

He sat back with a sigh, ‘thank god for that.’

It took hours to fill every freighter, then hours for them to return to the moon, unload and come back.  Steven knew it was going to take a mountain of materials and by the time the freighters returned to the moon that which they had dumped would probably be used up.  It was a balancing act and Steven knew it.  Trying to get the right materials to the right place at the right time to complete construction.  It would take a week to clean out the huge dump, but all the bases on the moon would be furbished.

Sid Tulane caught his attention, ‘sir, a call coming in from Captain Gairloch.’

Steven rubbed his temples, ‘OK I will take it in my quarters.’  He went below and activated his screen. 

‘Steven my friend, where have you been?’

‘On duty I’m afraid, how are you?  You look like you are putting on weight.’

Gairloch laughed, ‘how could I not.  My Emperor has put in a request for more seeds, would that be possible?’

‘I don’t see why not.  I will put the request in.’

‘Keep him happy Steven and you will be able to ask what you will after you have defeated the Albany.

Steven couldn’t help but smile, ‘I will keep that in mind.’

‘I finally visited the country of your birth and drank from a highland spring.  You were right, I have never tasted water so good.  The Heather I think is an acquired taste but I do know a race that would love it.’

Steven laughed, ‘how are the recruits coming along?’

‘It was difficult to begin with but they seem to be getting the hang of it.  We need more men Steven.’

‘They are coming your way in the next few days.’

‘Let me guess, politics.’

‘As always.  They are forming councils, asking for volunteers from their armed forces, tripping over their own feet, standing on one another’s toes; you know?’

‘We don’t really have that problem, the emperor commands and we obey but I have seen it in other planets and cultures.’

‘Well don’t worry.  They have come up with a scheme whereby their personal will be seconded to the Earth Space Corps and they are choosing men right now to meet your requirements.’

‘That’s good to hear Steven.’

‘How is your health?’

‘I have been very lucky so far.  I was hit twice this week.  Once in the arm and again in the leg.  The wounds are healing slowly.  I will let you get back to your duties, visit soon.’

‘I will try my best.’

The following week another dozen freighters came online and Komoru and Ico swung into action on garbage detail.  They hit the outskirts of Moscow where they began to draw a large crowd.  The army rushed to intervene and kept them back.  The atmosphere seemed to take on a picnic like quality.  A special request had been made by the Russians.  When the freighters went to dump their loads Komoru ordered the special project to begin.

‘Lewis is the area clear?’

‘Yes Miss Komoru.’

‘The redirect the stream and tell it to pick up organic material please.’

‘All done.’

The beam began to light up an area cordoned off by the army.  Grey briquettes about the size of a common brick began to appear.  They soon began to stack up.  The government had asked if they could supply them with a smokeless fuel for their old power plants.  The people quickly saw what was happening and a souvenir grab began.  Komoru had to stop the process when a stack of these briquettes collapsed and buried a dozen or so people.  There wasn’t enough soldiers to prevent the grab and they had to dig out the buried people.  Luckily no one was seriously injured.  It wasn’t until the following day that they managed to regain control of the situation.  At the end of the second day there were so many bystanders that she used sonic bombs to settle the dump in case anyone ventured into it.

‘How far has it settled Lewis?’

‘About three millimetres Miss Komoru.’

She was shocked, ‘is that all?’

He shrugged, ‘das all.’

‘Oh we are going to be here forever.’

Chapter 29

Buzz sauntered on to the bridge, ‘so what we doing today Stevie?’

‘Heading for Mercury.’

‘Did you hear from the Rodriguez?’

‘Yup sure did.  The mission has been a complete success.’

Buzz nodded, ‘that’s a weight of our minds then.’

‘Yup, I wasn’t sure if it would have worked.’

‘Has the freighter got everything they need on board?’

‘They sure have.’

Buzz nodded again, ‘how long ago did we send them out?’

‘About six weeks I think, the same day we started garbage detail.’

‘Oh yeah I remember now; bloody garbage detail.’

‘Now now Buzz, I know you all hate it but it is important.’

‘We got mountains of stuff now, literally.’

‘I know but we barely have enough for a tenth of a battle fleet.’

Buzz rubbed the back of his neck, ‘jezz.’

‘Hey we now have ships with atmospheric capabilities, manned with crews and going at it full blast,’ Steven reminded him.

‘Yeah I know we don’t have to do it anymore.  Word is the fighter base on the moon has all its fighters ready.’

‘That’s good, anything for me?’

‘The newly formed council committee, whoever the bloody hell they are, are demanding your presence again.’

Stevens face darkened, ‘oh what the hell for now!’

‘PR, recruiting drive.’

‘Ach away to hell.  We have every member of all the armed forces of every country on Earth already signed up to join us, and that includes their Navy’s.’

‘Yeah this has something to do with appeasing the citizens of Earth Stevie.’

‘Haven’t got time to play the celebrity Buzz.’

‘You already are one, hell we are all celebrities, they have plastic dolls of all of us now.  Don’t get how yours is the same height as me though.’

Steven laughed, ‘yeah I wondered at that as well.  Did you see the Lewis doll?’ 

They both laughed, ‘I got the whole set,’ Buzz admitted.

‘Yeah well plastic dolls or not I, we don’t have the time for this.  Any word from Komoru?’

‘They should be back by the time you finish breakfast.’

‘That’s good, did they get a good haul?’ 

Buzz stretched a kink out of his neck, ‘Hundred thousand tons of precious metals, and they are towing it straight to the Space dock.’

‘Good, once we have the haul from Mercury we can go into full production.’

‘Yeah I've seen the skeletons of the two new battle cruisers; is it me Stevie or do they look smaller than The Burning Wind.’

‘Identical, but built to human scale, and they will pack the same punch.’

‘That’s good to know.’

Steven laughed, ‘well we just didn’t need ten feet of head clearance in every corridor.  I reduced it to seven feet which will save us tons of material.’

Buzz nodded thoughtfully, ‘how did the meeting go with all those admirals and generals?’

‘Not good,’ Steven admitted, ‘I ran circles round them last night.  I think only one or two even made an effort to read the materials I sent them.’

‘So you kicked their arses in the simulator.’

‘The most embarrassing thing for them was that Gairloch blasted them as incompetent fools.’

Buzz laughed, ‘he was observing right.’

‘Yup.  I slaughtered them, then he slaughtered them and then he beat me.’

‘Beat not slaughtered!’

Steven grinned, ‘at the end of the battle he only had ten percent of his forces remaining.’

‘That wouldn’t have pleased him,’ Buzz grinned back.

‘He praised me to the high heavens; he has had a lifetime to study tactics and has been a soldier all his life.  He is also considered one of the best in his own galaxy.  He admitted that if the situation had been real he would have backed off due to the high casualty rate.’  Steven laughed, ‘he told me that if it all went pear shaped the emperor would give me a job.’

‘Sounds good to me,’ Buzz grinned.

‘You're pussyfooting around something Buzz, out with it.’

The smile disappeared, ‘I'm worried we got all our eggs in one basket, you are making the Moon a big target.’

‘I know but we just don’t have the resources to do anything else at the moment Buzz.  Plus keeping this stuff away from the Earth will prevent a thousand different possible disasters happening there.  Don’t worry as our strength grows I will begin to disperse our assets.’

Buzz stood, ‘breakfast time then.’

When they returned Komoru was waiting for them.  Steven couldn’t help the smile that split his face when she appeared on screen.  ‘Good morning, have a good trip?’

She smiled back at him, ‘I could do with a day off.’

‘Oops.’

She laughed, ‘it’s OK, I'm going to take a day when we get back from this trip.’

‘You ready?’

‘Yes let’s go get it done.’

The two ships disappeared into the black.  An hour later they were approaching mercury. 

‘Captain!’

‘Yes Hailey.’

‘Why is this metal only found on Mercury?’

‘You know how the solar system was formed right.’

‘Big bang.’

‘Everything was thrown out away from the sun.  How far it was thrown depended on the density of the material.’

‘You mean like blood in a centrifuge.’

‘Exactly.  It coalesced in bands and began to collide eventually forming the planets.’

‘I get that but why is it some alien planets have this material on them and we don’t, that I don’t get, shouldn’t they all be the same?’

‘There will be solar systems out there exactly like ours, some have more than one sun, maybe more than one explosion from different quarters, you know.’

She blinked, ‘oh hell I should have thought of that.  We are coming up on Mercury now sir.’

Come to stop twenty miles from the freighter and put her on screen please.’

The freighter leapt to life on the forward screen.  Buzz burst out laughing, ‘what the hell is that?’

‘That’s what we are here to pick up.’

Chapter 30

This was their first real space mission and it had lasted over six weeks.  All the men selected were Astronauts.  Commander John Logan’s heart beat faster as they manoeuvred onto the cobalt blue slab of metal.  It was three hundred meters deep, five hundred meters wide by five miles long.  The surface of Mercury shimmered far below.  This was the last slab and they would be heading back today.  They skimmed across the surface of the slab.  Below them green arrows pointed the way.  When they began to flash he slowed the platform down.  He had to make a small lateral adjustment.

‘OK that’s us bang on boys, deploy.’

The platform had been towing a large box.  His operator flicked a switch that lowered it onto the surface of the slab.  Two got out and checked that there was contact with the metal on all four corners.  They confirmed contact and explosive bolts secured the large box to the slab of metal.

‘All secure.’  The two men reported.     

‘Unwrap her,’ John ordered and the cover was removed to reveal a gleaming engine.  ‘How you doing at the other end Mark?’

‘That’s it now John, all secure.’

‘OK everyone evacuate.’

The two platforms lifted off the massive slab to a safe distance and the engines ignited.  Under computer control they manoeuvred the slab to where the others were waiting.  John thought from the end that it looked like a weird rubix cube.  As soon as the last great slab of metal was in place they sprang into action again.  The freighter moved over the mass and opened the loading bay doors.  The two teams shot inside and collected the braces that would attach this last piece to the whole; and the race was on.  The two crews shot out of the bay with two braces apiece and raced for either end on the slab.  The Astronauts laughed and whooped.  Unsavoury remarks were exchanged as each raced to complete the task first.  The braces were extended fully and joined in the centre of the new slab.  They were then extended to the braces in the adjacent slabs.  Bolts were fired into secure them then all of the men worked on a massive hand crank to pull the slab tight into the pile.  Johns team won by ten seconds, which gave them the overall highest score.  Despite the moaning from Marks team John realised they had taken the whole task from a couple of hours to just under thirty minutes.  They recovered the small engines and flew back to the freighter.

When the engines were stowed safely Mark cornered John.  He pointed to the big silver wall that was in fact one of four giant engines.  ‘I know we were supposed to do it later but we are well ahead of schedule and got plenty air.’

He thought it over, ‘yeah why the hell not.  Reid do you here me.’  He called his main man on the bridge.

‘Yeah what is it John.’

‘Let’s go straight to deploying the big engines.’

‘Sure thing boss.’

Mark and John were joined at the doors by another full bird colonel Alfie Lloyd.  He watched in wonder as the ship took off and flew across the massive field of metal.  With Mercury as a backdrop each of them was in awe of the beauty of the moment.

‘Guys this is the life,’ Alfie sighed.  They merely nodded their heads in response.  The other cargo bay doors slid open and they were joined by the rest of their companions.  No words were said as each lived the moment.  The freighter came to rest on top of the mass and giant rams shoved the first engine out.  It took all of them to manoeuvre it into its exact place and then massive self-tapping bolts began to drill themselves into the mass.  Long slivers of metal were ejected by the drills.

‘Be careful with that stuff,’ he warned one of his men as he got too close to it, ‘it’s probably razor sharp.’  The man backed off.  The four engines were deployed round the four corners of the butt end of the huge block of metal pointing towards the planet.

‘Why don’t we just toss this thing at their bloody city ship?  I'm sure it would cause major damage.’  Alfie mused.

John grinned, ‘I will make the suggestion.’

Mike patted him on the shoulder and pointed, ‘you won’t have long to wait to ask here they come.’  

They watched the Teardrop shaped ships glide towards them, ‘beauties aren’t they?’  Alfie sighed.

John had to agree, ‘they sure are.’

‘Do you think we will get to meet the man himself?’

‘I don’t know Alfie.’

One of the ships broke formation and glided towards them.  It set down close and a ramp was extended. 

‘If you guys fancy a late breakfast and hot coffee come aboard.’  A strange voice greeted them.  They didn’t need asked twice.  Each man felt a little pressure as they passed through an invisible barrier.  Inside a woman was waiting to greet them.

Her smile was returned by all, ‘hi I'm Hailey, if you come with me I will take you to the dining hall.  I am sorry about the glare it is an internal security measure.  The dining hall has false wall so there is no glare in there.  We have hot coffee, fresh rolls and believe Cookie has fresh sausage bacon and egg, or if you prefer a sandwich of your choice, just follow me.’

The men were disappointed to find there was only a small Scotsman waiting for them.  Hailey excused herself and went back to her duties.  ‘Help yourself lads.  Coffee is in the machine by the back wall there or if you want you can have tea or hot chocolate.  There's freshly baked bread and rolls with butter as well.’

‘This is great,’ Alfie stated with a mouth full of roll and sausage.

Logan washed down a mouthful with hot coffee and had to agree, ‘makes a change for the crap we have been eating.’ 

Mike nudged him, ‘is that Gordon there?’

He had spotted a small man walk in with a tablet stuck in front of his face.  He made his way to the coffee machine without looking down from the tablet and poured himself a coffee; stirred in some sugar and was half way back out the door when he suddenly realised his way was blocked.  It took a moment for his eyes to focus and another to realise he was surrounded.

‘Uh!  Can I help you gentlemen?’

The tall handsome square-jawed blond six-footer in front of him offered his hand, ‘Captain Gordon I am Commander John Logan, I would like to thank you on behalf of myself and my men for the opportunity you gave us by selecting us for this mission.’

Steven seemed surprised, ‘ah, no problem gentlemen, a pleasure, I take you have enjoyed the mission then.’  They were all nodding and murmuring.

‘It was a blast sir,’ Logan confirmed.  ‘May I ask why you never chose an astronaut to join your crew?’

Steven shrugged, ‘none ever applied.’

‘Oh!’  The answer seemed to catch Logan flat footed.

Alfie stepped into the silence left by John.  ‘Can I ask what's going to happen now sir?’

Steven took a deep breath, ‘yeah sure.  You guys are all becoming part of the first fighter wing aren’t you?’

‘Yes sir,’ Alfie confirmed.

‘You will be glad to know that your fighters are ready and waiting for you.  You will begin full training a couple of days after you return; they are giving you the weekend off.’  The men laughed.  ‘This metal will provide us with enough for a dozen battle cruisers and I think its thirty destroyers.  If we have time we will come back again.  Of course there is an enormous amount of training to be done for every single member of the corps; if the Albany come now, we are completely stuffed.  The only safeguard humanity has is the fact that our enemy has no idea we are now a space-going world; so they seem to be in no hurry.  Our friend the emperor has been supplying us with information.  Word is slowly coming in about the battle readiness of the Albany.  It would seem they are a fair bit away from being able to launch an attack, but we cannot become complacent.  They already have a huge attack fleet and know how to use it.  We on the other hand don’t have a clue.’

‘Well we would all like to thank you for this opportunity sir.’  Alfie insisted.

Steven shook his head, ‘you may not be saying that when an Albany attack fleet come screaming down your necks.’

Alfie shrugged, ‘at least we can met them head on sir, if it wasn’t for you most of us would probably have ended up dying in our beds.’

‘I am glad some see it like that, it makes a change from the anti-Christ perspective I seem to get a lot of.’

The men laughed, ‘just a few million crazy’s sir, they will change their mind rapidly if the Albany ever gets their hands on them and toss them into a blender.’

Steven laughed and held up his tablet, ‘this will interest all of you; I am in the process of rewriting space fighter tactics into a form that you will all understand.  Many of the concepts and ideas need to be simplified, given names that humans will understand.’

Alfie interrupted him, ‘excuse me sir but are you a pilot?’  

‘Uh!  Nope.’

‘Do you think you are actually qualified to rewrite those notes?’

‘I believe so yes.’

Alfie grinned, ‘sir I am a top-gun pilot, like every man here I came out on top of my class.  We are the best fighter pilots on Earth; don’t you think one of us would be more qualified?’

Steven took a sip of his coffee, ‘no I don’t.’

Alfie was stuck speechless but Logan jumped back in.  ‘Sir have you ever even sat in a fighter or handled the controls of an aircraft.’

‘No.’

Logan laughed, ‘then I must submit that you are certainly not qualified to dictate to us how to fly and fight these new craft.’

‘Oh you think so do you?’

Logan grinned, ‘yes I do; do I feel a wager coming on here sir.’

Steven shrugged, ‘if you want.  We have a spare fighter, I suppose you could give me half an hour to familiarise myself with it.’

‘One on one sir.’

‘Actually commander I was thinking more like myself against the whole squadron.’  They roared with laughter.  ‘In fact I will even paint my craft white to give you all more of a chance.’

Alfie almost fell over and had to cling to Logan for support.  When Logan managed to talk again he took a deep breath and wiped away a tear.  ‘What would the wager be sir?’

Steven shrugged, ‘I have no idea, this is the first bet I've ever made in my life.’  That made them laugh even harder but Steven wasn’t finished.  ‘To make it a bit fairer I will give you a week to train in your craft and will send the manuals along as well.’

‘We don’t need the manuals sir.’  Logan boasted.

Steven shrugged, ‘as you please.  I will see you in a weeks’ time gentlemen.’

Their laughter followed him out of the canteen.  There was only one man not laughing and that was Cookie.  He was clearing up the cups and plates when Alfie spotted him and didn’t like the wry smile spread across the man’s face.  ‘What you grinning at Scotty?’

Cookies laughter seemed to have a dampening effect on the astronauts, ‘cos I love it when a bunch of smug bastards like yourselves, get you arse’s handed to you on a plate.’