Theogony 1: Janissaries (9 page)

“In national news this evening, the Commerce Department has
announced a new initiative to open up new sources of rare earth elements,” read
KIRO’s anchorwoman, Anna St. Cloud. “Secretary of Commerce Nicholas David
announced the government’s plans earlier today.”

The camera cut to Nick David at a podium. “One of the
biggest lessons learned from the recent Sino-American war was that China has a
stranglehold on rare earth elements. They produce over 90% of the world’s
supply. We need to develop alternate sources, so that a foreign country cannot
determine the future direction of the U.S. economy.”

The camera returned to Anna St. Cloud. “The Secretary of
Commerce announced that the government would be re-opening the Mountain Pass
rare earth mine in California, as well as the Diamond Creek and Lemhi Pass
mines in Idaho. The government will also be taking over many recycling programs
that recover rare earth elements, among other initiatives.”

Co-anchor Bob Brant took over. “In local news…

“There is something very strange going on with the
Americans,” said the KGB chairman, deep in thought. “First the mission to the
moon and then the two centers of excellence located next to each other.
Hmm…they are certainly up to something, but what could it be?”

The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service looked at the
rest of the intelligence officers assembled in the headquarters conference
room. All of them seemed to be looking at their notes. There was nothing else
to look at; there were no windows, as the conference room was buried deep
within the building to keep anyone from spying on it. Seeing that no one else was
going to offer any suggestions, he said, “I agree, sir. Perhaps they are using
these things to cover up something else?”

“Well,
of course
they are using them to cover up
something else! The question is,
what
? They didn’t just come up with a ‘mission
to the moon’ out of the blue! Nor did they just decide to host two centers of
excellence without at least talking to their allies, first. The cover stories
are weak. There is obviously something that they are hiding. It also probably
has something to do with the new push to collect rare earth elements and heavy
metals…” the KGB chairman was one of the few remaining members of the KGB that
was a veteran of the Cold War and the spy wars with the United States. He was
excellent at piecing together different sources of information to come up with a
coherent picture.

“Perhaps they are working on some new battery or source of
power,” he finally said. “Regardless of what it is, if they get it, it will not
be something beneficial for us. We need to get people into these programs and
find out what it is that they’re hiding. I wish the president had chosen to
participate in the moon mission, but I understand why it wasn’t politically
feasible at this time.” He was well aware that the U.S. had accidentally sunk a
Russian destroyer during their war with China. Even though the U.S. had offered
to pay for it and to pay damages to the families of the sailors onboard, it
remained something that the Russian Parliament still tried to use to its
advantage.

“We have one agent watching the special forces soldiers to
try to find out what they’re up to,” said the operations officer. “So far
they’ve only held one meeting and are exercising at a hangar on one of their
bases.”

“Good,” said the KGB chief. “Continue to try to penetrate
both centers of excellence to see what they’re up to, but exercise caution. We
don’t want them to know that we’re on to them.”

It was Friday evening, and Ryan was just finishing cleaning
up the dinner dishes when there was a knock at the door of his cabin. As the
cabin was in the middle of a national forest, it was unusual to have guests,
especially as darkness fell in the mountains. After a hard week of training at
the hangar, he didn’t think that any of the platoon members would have come by unannounced.

He was surprised to open the door and find Brontes waiting
for him. Not only had his contact with her been limited, it was also extremely
unusual for her to recognize a convention like knocking on the door. She
usually just showed up where she wanted. “Come on in,” he said. “Please have a
seat,” he said, pulling out a chair. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“No, thank you,” she replied.

After the refusal, she didn’t say anything else for nearly 15
seconds as she looked at her hands, contemplating something with herself. Ryan
gave her the time to come to a decision on her own. Finally, she looked up and
said, “You are still not being told everything.”

Ryan laughed. “I hope you didn’t come all the way out here
just to tell me that,” he said, “because that is hardly news. Even though Arges
said he would tell us everything, we know that he hasn’t.”

“I am in a difficult position,” began Brontes. “I have a
legal and moral obligation to obey orders; however, I cannot stand by and just
watch some things happen without affecting my place on the Wheel.”

“Wheel?” asked Ryan. “What wheel is that?”

“It is a belief of ours, but that isn’t important right now.
We can talk about it at another time if you want to,” replied Brontes. “There
are a couple of other things that I need to discuss with you before my presence
is missed. Not all of these will make sense now, but I promise that I have your
best intentions at heart and will explain them to you later when I am able. Can
you trust me for now?”

“I guess,” said Ryan, understanding very little about what
was going on. Obviously there was a
lot
more taking place behind the
scenes than the Terrans were privy to. A crack in the unity of the Psiclopes
was something to be encouraged; it could only help the Terrans.

“That is good enough for now then,” replied the Psiclops.
“The first thing you need to know is that the medibot doing your implants is able
to do many more things than just putting in the implants.”

“It is?” asked Ryan, wondering where this was going.

“It is,” confirmed Brontes. “Our ship was intended to spend
long periods at the edge of civilization. As such, the medical section onboard
was equipped with all of the latest technology, so that it would be ready for
any exigency.”

“It would be ready for any
what
?” Ryan asked,
wondering if the Psiclopes were ever going to learn to speak plain English.

“It had to be ready for any need or possibility,” explained
Brontes, “from conducting major medical procedures to developing indigenous
life forms into effective warriors, somewhat like what we are doing with you now.”

“Do you mean the implant operations that we are going to
have?” asked Ryan. “I don’t know what all we’re getting, but it definitely
sounds like we will be more effective warriors after the operation.”

Brontes smiled. “There is no doubt that having implants will
make you more effective as a warrior. The ability to communicate instantly,
across great distances, will allow you to coordinate your actions with a far
greater precision than most cultures you will face. The implants will also
allow you to interface with your weapons systems and use them to their fullest extent.
The best part of having implants, which I don’t think any of you really
understands yet, is that it will allow you to acquire information and skills from
the computer system. This information will go straight into your brain nearly
instantaneously via the implant link. For example, all of the tech manuals for
your new weapons can be downloaded to your brain through the implant. Once it
is there, you will have the ability to recall any of the data you require.”

Ryan liked where this was going. “So, if I needed to fly a
space fighter, I could download the instructions and be a pilot?”

Brontes shook her head. “It is not quite as easy as that.
There is a difference between knowing something and having the experience and muscle
memory required to do it effectively. For example, when Calvin is flying an
airplane and he wants it to climb, he pulls back on the stick. How hard and
fast he pulls back is determined by how much he wants to climb and how fast he
wants to get there. It requires the actual experience of flying the plane to
understand the forces involved. It is one thing to know ‘pull back the stick;’
it is another thing entirely to know how far and fast to do so. Similarly, you
could download knowledge on a new form of martial arts. Simply knowing the
moves to take down an opponent is not the same as understanding
when
to
use them or having trained with them to the point that you have the muscle
memory required to use them effectively.”

“I get it,” said Ryan. “We can get the information
downloaded to us, but it is just knowledge. We have to practice it in order to have
any skill at it.”

“Exactly,” confirmed Brontes. “Still, it will accelerate
your acquisition of these skills beyond anything you currently have access to.”

“Awesome,” replied Ryan. “The first thing I’m getting is a
dictionary so that I can understand what you and Arges are saying.”

Brontes giggled. Wow, thought Ryan, they actually
do
have a sense of humor. “I’ll endeavor…I mean, I will try to keep my words
understandable,” said Brontes. “Better?”

“Better,” Ryan agreed.

“OK,” said Brontes, “The implants will let you do all of
those things. The medibot, however, is capable of more than simply installing
the implants. It is also able to do major bio-modification, as well.” Seeing
Ryan’s question forming, she continued. “What I mean is that it can give your
body anything from enhancements to complete cyborg replacement.”

“Cyborg replacement?” asked Ryan. “What is that?”

“That is where your brain is transplanted into a mechanical
robot shell,” replied Brontes. “There are many combat models available for
those who choose to do that. Some of them are quite powerful.”

“Umm...I’m not sure I’m ready for that,” said Ryan.

“Most intelligent beings are not,” Brontes agreed. “There
are, however, many enhancements that you can get that are not that...permanent.
Arges does not intend to tell you, but you can ask the system for the ‘Warrior
Package,’ and it will give your body a number of enhancements that will make
you a far more deadly and skilled warrior.”

“What type of enhancements are we talking about?” asked
Ryan, worried about losing his humanity. He didn’t want to wake up and find out
that he was now Robosoldier.

“The system can do nearly anything our doctors can. It can
sharpen your vision, giving you the best eyesight your species is capable of.
It can enhance muscular strength and endurance, giving you the ability to carry
more weight and for longer durations. It can enhance your reflexes, helping you
to act faster than your opponents. Depending on how far you want to go, you can
also have your bones strengthened with nano-metallic alloys that will give them
the ability to withstand shock and stress, as well as a subcutaneous
bio-plastic injection that will strengthen your skin. Both of these will allow
you to avoid some combat damage and mitigate that which you cannot avoid.”

“Oh, I’ve got to get some of that!” exclaimed Ryan. “Why
weren’t we told about this?”

“For two reasons,” explained Brontes. “First, there is the
prohibition against technology transfer to worlds that don’t have a planetary
government. Depending on the options chosen for warrior enhancement, you could
turn yourself into a cyborg that would be nearly unstoppable with your world’s
current armament systems. Think ‘Terminator’-style enhancements. If the entire
platoon received this modification, it would be able to beat any
army
on
the entire planet, vastly changing the world’s balance of power. As some of
these modifications are permanent, we wouldn’t be able to undo them once we got
back from the mission. To give them to you means that we have to be sure about
how you will use them or, at the very least, that the need is dire, which I
feel it is. As I have already told you, I have seen the Drakuls in action. They
are twice as big as you, more than twice as strong and utterly devoid of
conscience or morals. You will need every advantage you can get to defeat them.
Not transferring this technology to you unnecessarily handicaps you in your
fight against them.”

“Makes sense,” said Ryan. “And the second reason?”

 “We’re running low on materials for the rep…” Brontes
answered. “I mean, we’re low on supplies,” she finished weakly.

“You know,” said Ryan, “I wanted to be a spaceman when I was
growing up, and I read an awful lot of science fiction when I was a little boy.
Why can’t you just admit that you have some sort of replicator or fabricator,
or whatever it is that makes your equipment for you?”

Brontes sighed. “Because I’m not allowed to talk about it,”
she said, confirming its existence. “That would definitely be a breach of my
orders and would make the men angry at me for doing so.”

“Is that another one of the things that are prohibited until
we have a unified planetary government?” asked Ryan.

“I’m afraid that it is,” agreed Brontes. “Still, you had to
know that we had something, so denying its existence is really pretty stupid,
isn’t it?”

Ryan nodded. “Pretty much,” he said.

“I have a question for you,” said Brontes, “in exchange for
the information I just gave you. I would ask that you keep it just between us.”
Ryan nodded. “Have you noticed anything different about Calvin?”

“Different in what way?” asked Ryan. “Do you mean different
in that something has changed with him recently? Or that he is different from
other people?”

“Either of those,” replied Brontes. “Or both.”

Ryan thought about it for a little while. “I don’t know if
this is ‘different,’ but he certainly picks up new things quicker than anyone
I’ve ever seen. For an aviator, he caught on to being a soldier pretty damn
quickly. He’s also the only one to beat our XO in hand-to-hand combat, and he
doesn’t have a lot of training in it.” He chuckled ruefully. “The XO kicked my
ass.” He thought a little longer. “I don’t know if this is ‘different,’ either,
and probably wouldn’t have thought about it if you hadn’t asked, but he is a
good leader that is able to adapt to just about any situation. People naturally
follow him. Oh, yeah, he also seems to know when you guys are around, which no
one else can do. Why do you ask?”

“Just curious,” Brontes replied. “Oops, I’ve got to go,” she
said. “Don’t forget to ask for the ‘Warrior Package’ when you get your
implants.” With that, she was gone.

“Oh, well,” sighed Ryan, pushing in her chair. “At least she
used the door to come in.”

* * * * *