The Monkey and Squirrel fight for freedom. (29 page)

“When we eventually get time on the nano assembler, I expect it to take around ten weeks, as Dave says, it is our only way to manufacture super conducting coils to the necessary tolerances. If it works it should give us a seven fold increase in specific impulse and saves around twenty percent of mass, this job is starting to look possible. It just has to work as designed.” reported Sheila.

“We'll find out when we fit it to our test bed vehicle, if the trials give us the right results, we can start building for real.” replied Jimmy eagerly.

On the human carrier, they saw the display on the news.

“They like to show off their abilities, don't they sir.” said Wing Commander Harry Glover to Group Captain John Hampton.

“They certainly break new ground fairly regularly, if we had engines like that this damn journey would only take a few months, but what really bothers me is every time they do something like this it's like a herald of bad news for us.” replied John grimly, wanting to be wrong.

“Excuse me sir, it looks like ten drones have just appeared behind us,” said warrant officer Mohammed Clarkson, wondering if clairvoyance was a requirement of command.       

“See what I mean Glover, they probably have been there ever since we left Jupiter, a little reminder.” speculated Group Captain John Hampton.

“Permission to launch fighters and engage sir?” asked Wing Commander Harry Glover eagerly.

“Granted, I don't think they are looking to fight just yet, but lets see what happens.”

Glover launched four flights of fighters, the drones just disappeared, they tried to find them, but they didn't show themselves until the fighters had re-docked with the carrier.

“Looks like I was right Glover, every time we launch the fighters we have to stop accelerating until we pick them up again. That's how they are harassing us now, if we keep stopping acceleration, we'll never get there and I want this over one way or another as soon as possible. It's been just going on too long, we have a deadline and I'm going to keep it. No more launches unless they actually attack, OK.” instructed Group Captain John Hampton.

“Understood, but we ought to have a bit of practice nearer the event, sir.”

“Naturally, but until then it's simulators only Glover.” agreed Group Captain John Hampton.

Chapter 27

Preparation and developments

In Saturn's orbit the new carriers were starting to take shape, instead of one spinal laser it had six, each with it's own separate cooling system. Each could be fired three times in twenty minutes, but would then require an hour to cool before being fired again.

“A bit of overkill don't you think, unless you have to vaporise an asteroid or two.” signed Chatty to Tman.

“I doubt it will be used, it's about having a credible punch, humans think enough is not good enough. Ten or a hundred times more than the minimum required is a credible deterrent to your enemy. If we want to deter them from further insane actions, we have to posture with a ridiculously amount of fire power, if they counter build we have to ace them again parity is never enough.” explained Tman annoyed with idiot humans.

“I'll take your word on that, it just seems like we have got carried away, just getting bigger nastier and ever more powerful.” observed Chatty.

“I know what you mean, playing the human game too well, we have yet to change the script, if we want to change the way humans think, that's going take us a very long time.” Tman pointed out.

“I agree it will take ages, have you anything more upbeat to talk about?” asked Chatty optimistically. 

“Centauri one has entered the Oort cloud such as it is, comets, small lumps of ice, rock general debris left over from making the solar system, pretty much as expected so far. Number six is through the Kuiper belt, hasn't exploded and is giving excellent data on the fusion drive. Our next one will be less hairy, function more efficiently, its looking good for our interstellar vessel.” Tman replied happily.

“That's more like my old friend wanting to explore the galaxy rather than blow it up, you were starting to worry me with all this destructive stuff. I was worried you'd come down with a case of human paranoia!” exclaimed Chatty.

“Just our paranoia, feeding off human paranoia, producing an over compensation.” speculated Tman.

“Hence the ever bigger guns?”

“That's it, I don't think our paranoia needs one bigger than we are currently building, it does feel a little ridiculous now we're actually building the things, but as we've started we'll finish them.” admitted Tman.

“As always, we have to finish whatever we start.” agreed Chatty.

Jimmy's team had got good results from the test bed, the ion engine needed a few tweaks. As the core of the engine made in one lump by the nano assembler, this meant a completely new core had to be made, but their confidence was high. The cruse ship design was looking more complete, the engine requirements were close enough to being finalised, building of the actual ship could start. At last thought Jimmy something I can do rather than managing a group of ambitious intellectual divas. It's been like teaching cats to teamwork with mice, mission improbable, good job I had Dodgy Dave on side to help.   

Penelope Goodbody had decided to write Plumbers biography, so had been e-mailing the old crew for their anecdotes, and if there were other possible contributors she could contact. She was surprised to discover that he had been married, some time in his late twenties to a slightly younger blond woman. Whom had deserted him four years later, for a rich older man with his own plane and art collection, who had married her after her divorce, and had died of old age a few years back .

When Penelope contacted the ex-wife, she was some what taken aback by Plumber's ex-wife's attitude, given the time since the marriage ended. Penelope eventually gathered that, the ex had not enjoyed life with her second husband, he had kept tight control of money and her. The bulk of his wealth including his property being held in a trust for his children from his first marriage. Even after death, he was still controlling her from the grave, the ex had to go on living in the same rent free house, on the same allowance until her death or remarriage.

The angry and bitter ex managed to convince herself, it was all the fault of the man she deserted, as he had deliberately not become wealthy until years after she deserted him. Consequently there was not much to be gained from the exchange, Penelope could use for the biography. Penelope did conclude she had been very lucky to fall in with Plumber, she had enjoyed their years together and he had left her free when he died.

When she met Sparks, she also met Sparks wife who had insisted on being present when he met Plumbers floozy, as she put it. Sparks was eighty five if not older, it was clear who she didn't trust. Lad (Tman) wasn't able to add much to what the others had told her, just the odd detail and observation.

Major Johnson was reviewing the latest intelligence, it looked like the Chinese were actually building a space cruse ship, and behaving like the carrier had never existed. Apparently the Chinese had asked and had been reassured that provided they carried no weapons, they would be left in peace, to colonise as far out as Jupiter, but would not be allowed into territory already occupied by the Newp.

Newp? Aha New People, thought Carl to himself as he remembered the Squirrels, it's not just Monkeys, why do we always forget them? Is it because they are physically so much smaller we automatically assume they are dominated by the Monkeys? If they actually are it could be an angle we could exploit.

With that he started a detailed analysis of all communications, and gathered intelligence. Two weeks later he had his own results independently confirmed, they were A New People, there was no disunity for humanity to exploit, both groups enjoyed equal standing, equally participated in government, worked in joint teams sometimes lead by Monkeys, but it was just as likely to be lead by a Squirrel.

How have they managed that? No competition between the races, equality in fact, genuine cooperation on projects, administration, supply, design and construction. They all worked together like the project was all that mattered, not personal position or who had the biggest office. Hells bells it is no wonder they have achieved so much so quickly, no petty infighting, no obstructionism to show who's boss, organisation to aid the work. The project was not something to sit on top of demanding some one brings you a coffee when there's a machine by the door.

Snap out of it Carl he said to himself, just because they don't go for all that nonsense, doesn't mean there's any chance of it going out of fashion here. For people fighting for their lives they have been very magnanimous, they've had the means to drive humanity back to the surface of Earth for a few years now but have not done so. If the positions were reversed he doubted that humanity would be as magnanimous.

May as well write another report they won't believe, for their own reasons they were going to keep him on this job until it was over; that'll probably be over less than a minute after they cross that line. I'll write it tomorrow it's another early home day to day.

Chapter 28

Prelude to crossing the line                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

It was the first of January 2125, “Well that's a change instead of an extra ten drones following to mark the start of another year it's doubled to one hundred and twenty” said Wing Commander Harry Glover.

“Just a way of letting us know we are getting close to the line, Glover. You can start running your tactical trials in the fighters and missile ships once a week. From about April we'll probably be able to run them for about two hours a day, just make damn sure we have enough fuel for the crunch when it arrives.” instructed Group Captain John Hampton.

“Understood sir, we need the men ready, but need to have a minimum of half our fighter fuel in reserve. I'll work out a fuel budget and a program to fit it, is that all sir?” acknowledged Harry.

“As long as those drones are just sitting there yes, carry on Harry.” confirmed John.

Harry got going, feeling pleased even though he had worked out the Group Captains command method. He used Harry's first name as a reward for getting things right, if he was doing OK it was Glover his surname, if addressed by rank Harry was really in it. Things had improved for him, the men didn't openly doubt him now, the command staff treated him respectfully, even it they did talk a bit wistfully about his predecessor on occasion, but never knowingly in his presence.

After the first run through, it was being kept simple until they got used to the fighters once more.

“Those drones are just there to irritate us, the fighters that went out started manoeuvres, then they were all locked up by targeting radar, but never from the ones we can see. They don't fire, just kept making the lock on alarm go off, it unnerves the men never knowing if this time they'll fire. There must be just as many we can't see as we can, sir.” reported Wing Commander Harry Glover.

“We'll just have to put it down to their warped sense of humour, Glover if you recall I did speculate that there was far more drones out there, than we could see. This just confirms, we are well and truly screwed.” observed Group Captain John Hampton.

“Yes sir, when they are in full stealth, we can only shoot back if we see the laser origin point and target that. The best results we achieved in simulations was, we only lost two fighters for each kill of an  invisible drone, we do a lot better when they are unstealthed, but they are seldom so obliging.” expanded Harry.

“I wonder if they have any more surprises for us before the big one, they really like to drive home the point .” speculated John.

“I thought you were going to stop speculating, about that sort of thing sir.” Harry reminded him.

“I was wasn't I, but I just can't help it Harry, I just have this feeling something nasty is headed for us.”

“Not what we have waiting for us, then sir?”

“No Harry, it's just a feeling, daft I know but it's there right between my shoulder blades.”

“Not that daft sir, I have it to.”

On the Newp carrier Punisher, leading a formation of nine carriers, Judgement, Enforcer,  Sentence, Condemned, Retribution, Contempt, Executioner and Decimator being the others. Tman and Chatty had been tasked to intercept the human carrier and try reason to persuade them to turn back.

“Mission highly improbable would you say Chatty?” asked Tman casually.

“Can't say I'd disagree with that! On a less gloomy subject, how are your interstellar probes getting on?” asked Chatty wanting to lighten the mood.

“Luyten is out of the Oort cloud and has attained one tenth light speed, once we are certain that there are no lumps of rock in the way, it will deploy its scoop. Some theorists think that the drag will exceed the the thrust gained, a lot depends on the assumed density of matter in the interstellar region, and level of acceleration you can apply to it. Our figures say that equilibrium of thrust and drag will not happen until velocity is approximately fifty percent light speed.

Lacking hard data we have had to make some assumptions, but it is experiment that proves what is real. If it proves not worthwhile for acceleration, maybe we can use the scoop as a no fuel braking system, reducing the fuel required to achieve in system orbital velocities. We will know one way or another in a few months, when Centauri one is due to emerge, it's acceleration is lower and will top out around twenty percent light speed even with the scoop meeting all expectations.

One of the big things we need to know is how fast is safe in interstellar space, the observations we're getting are of wandering planets, comets and all sorts of things out there, all dark some of it travelling at relatively high velocities with no common vector, the radar collision avoidance system is going to be very busy, at what speed is it in danger of being overwhelmed? The laser will be used to illuminate any large objects for the five meter telescope to take a picture and analyse.” Tman explained enthusiastically. 

“A full program of experiments, nice to see you so engaged. How are you feeling generally, you certainly look OK ?”enquired Chatty.

“Now that I'm ten percent over my design life you mean?” asked Tman.

“As you're now fifty years old, yes that longevity treatment, is it working?”

“It appears to be, I'm feeling great and more energetic than when I received the longevity treatment.”

“That's good to know, I've had it too and its working for me. It's no good my mind keeps going back to it, just a few more days and we'll register on their radar, I wonder what they'll think?” wondered Chatty.

“Maybe something like, we're going to run out of toilet paper.” signed Tman.

“Not another joke, the worst of it is you're slowly getting better if we live for another thousand years you might actually make me laugh.” retorted Chatty.

Early February, the watch crew sounded action stations, command was frantic as every one rushed into positions.

Group Captain John Hampton demanded, “Report!”

“We have nine large vessels closing from astern, size and mass would indicate the enemy carriers, no confirmation yet sir.”  answered warrant officer Mohamed Clarkson.

“Is this it do you think, sir?” asked Wing Commander Harry Glover.

“It is a bit early unless they have suddenly decided to have us disappear without trace. Nine carriers that gives them three hundred and sixty fighters, four and a half thousand drones. The lasers on those carriers could smash ours into scrap before we got all our fighters off, are they jamming our communications? they haven't fired yet.” John asked.

“They are not jamming us, but have requested a video conference, sir.” reported Mohamed.

“Thank you Clarkson, set it up, obviously they want to talk as well as show us their fire power.” instructed John.

“I thought they couldn't talk?” enquired Glover.

“They have language, and can use synthesised speech devices Glover. I don't expect this to be a scintillating conversation given such limitations, succinct and to the point, a very sharp one I expect, given the force they come visiting with.” explained Group Captain John Hampton with strained patience.

“Its ready sir, the system was on stand by, the frequencies are set.” reported Mohamed.

“Its OK Clarkson, they were just being polite asking, when they could have just switched it on. Throw the switch and lets get on with it.” instructed Group Captain John Hampton.

The main monitor came on with its camera activated, a shocked Clarkson had frozen with his hand half way to the switch. On the monitor was a monkey and a squirrel.

“Hi there John, I'm Tman, and I'm Chatty, (they pointed to themselves in turn) we've been sent on mission improbable, to use reason to talk you into being sensible. Just so we can  avoid that nasty unpleasant business of us having to kill all of you, if at all possible. We thought this display of our small carriers would help you come to the right conclusion, what are your thoughts on this mission?”

“I can't back down to your force! The official assessment relies on fighter numbers, assuming the drones only make a marginal difference, that currently puts us as numerically even.” answered Group Captain John Hampton grimly.

“You know better than that John, the design specification of this type of carrier was for one of ours to destroy one of yours, its fighters and drones to engage your fighters while it turned yours into scrap. Hence the heavy armour and weapons it was initially limited to being a defensive weapon. But with our new engines we can run all over the inner-system in a few months, so can be used aggressively when required.

Rest assured they will be so used, if  any more such missions as yours are sent out, they will be stopped cold before they cross the orbit of Mars no second chances. Do you think we are bluffing?” asked the voice on the screen.

“No I don't, but it's not me you have to convince, but my high command, I know you know why that is and what I'd have to be facing, to be allowed to commit a tactical withdrawal.” answered Group Captain John Hampton.

“That just confirms, our intelligence from the command group meetings.”

“You have a sympathiser in there?” asked an amazed Group Captain John Hampton as he watched the figures on the screen.

“No need, it being a international group, and as everyone is spying on everyone else, it is ridiculously easy to tap into some of those recording devices. We probably have better records of their meetings than they do, the amount of editing that goes on.” replied that machine voice.

“I see, what are you going to do if we don't turn tail now?” asked Group Captain John Hampton, pleased at how level he kept his voice.

“Not much, really just a little demonstration of our capabilities, then we take these carriers home to be serviced. They'll be ready and waiting for and you are faced with only two possible choices.” replied the voice.

“May I take it you have brought a significant part of if not your total force?” enquired Group Captain John Hampton, eager for any information.

“This is the full compliment of our small carrier, but there are three much bigger far more powerful ones guarding our homes. They too will greet you on the line, marked by one hundred fighters and two hundred drones, as you close on the line, our other forces will close on you. I promised my human friends that you would be met by a force large enough that even a politician would agree you had no alternative but to withdraw, I intend to keep that promise.” answered the voice.

“Your human friends, a group of pathetic old farts the lot of them.” said Glover trying to taught them.

“You are wrong to dismiss our friends so lightly, if I did not have such friends you would have been dead long ago. While you were licking your wounds around Jupiter we could have easily shipped in more fighters and drones. The drones on this carrier could easily burn all your fighters and missile ships out of space, then leisurely killed your carrier. We wouldn't even need to deploy the fighters, your reinforcements would have been even easer to deal with.

You see, you do have a great deal to thank those few outstanding humans for. As for our reasons to honour our friends so, is that when we were seen as worthless slaves, they protected us and educated us. Their core humanity driving them to do the right thing in a wrong world, many more of us would have died horrible unnecessary deaths without them. You should honour them to as they have saved large numbers of your crew, who do you think prompted the Chinese to demand the removal of the women and children.” declared that chilling voice.

“Wheels within bloody wheels, you're pushing the anti-conflict political campaign too, no wonder they can’t take the site down.” commented John.

“There is little we can actually do, a little IT support where we can, a little information we may have stumbled across. Humanity's fire walls are so full of holes and your encryption, a joke the Chinese cracked twenty years ago. We know these things, do you have any idea how careful we had to be for a very long time, we just couldn't allow our network to be discovered, it would have been a death sentence to us all.” that voice replied.

“That's all we have to say to each other then, you want me to withdraw, I can't. Your friends have befriended my crew without the crew knowing. I think that concludes our meeting.” stated Group Captain John Hampton

“Not quite there is the little matter of our demonstration.”

“I'm not going to like this am I?”

“No, remember those nerve gas missiles? Thoughtful of you to store them on the outside of your carrier.” asked the voice.

“They're in an armoured bunker on the hull, no body wants to share their atmosphere with those things.” replied John testily.

“I quite agree. See you later.”

There was a single laser shot, and the bunker was gone as were two missile ships that had been next to it. Fortunately for the crews Glover had stood them down, at a signal from John, so they were in the carrier at the time. The visitors accelerated rapidly leaving the human carrier behind.

“I think we should treat that as a warning shot Glover. Which one fired Clarkson?” asked Group Captain John Hampton.