Virus and earth ii boxse.., p.103
Virus & Earth II Boxset, page 103
part #1 of Virus Series
“I think that would be a wise decision. There is much to learn about these ships and using them is the best way to discover how they work. I must explore the computer for a short time, so I can locate the jump coordinates.”
“Have you figured out if those work yet?”
“As I have explained, the Vakeel use the magnetic rivers that flow through the Universe. Aside from the rivers, there are points in space where their technology is better suited to manage the forces. Each of those points varies in their ability to support a jump. Many of them are suitable for only small amounts of mass, and others are capable of supporting a ship of this size. The jump point from which they entered our Solar System was one of those points. Over time, all of the potential jump points migrate as rivers of the magnetic forces move,” explained SIMPOC.
“The computer programs that the Vakeel created are planned to jump from the Vakeel system which is a known point, to a further system, such as ours. Then they jump back, reversing their course. For us to jump, I must change the programming, so we can compute new jumps points and then be able to reverse ourselves to come back.”
“How long will it take you to make those adjustments?” Joan asked.
“I have been experimenting with the code. There are still parts of how the computers work that I don’t understand, but the unknown areas are in the mechanics of how they operate not the programming. I will begin the process now to compute new jump points.”
“SIMPOC is there any risk that after we jump, we may not be able to come back?”
“Very little risk. The rivers of magnetic forces are clearly related to the distribution of mass in the Universe. It is like mapping a point between a positive and negative magnet where we can manipulate the forces. After we jump, the computers will need time to measure the mass distribution around that location; then we should have no problems returning.”
“We’re going to stay there for a while, for the computer to figure out where it is before it can compute a path back home?” Joan asked.
“That is correct, so the further the jump is, the longer it will take to update the star charts to compute the return path. The corollary to that is, the more jumps we make, the more information we’ll have regarding the location of the stars. Then any subsequent jumps to that area of space will be easier.”
“When you’re ready, let me know. That sounds pretty exciting,” responded Joan.
“That is correct,” said SIMPOC.
Saturday, September 23, 2051
The Chicago Mayor Gets His Bombs
5 trucks were parking in front of the Chicago Mayor’s office. Bobby never felt so powerful. Each of the trucks was loaded with a couple of nuclear bombs.
When the first truck parked, Rolly jumped out of the cab to show his exciting toys to the Mayo who was standing on the sidewalk waiting.
“Sir, here they are. We got 20 of them,” Rolly said, beaming and expecting a ‘job well done’ comment from the Mayo.
“Where are you putting them,” the Mayor asked, without giving Rolly any positive comments.
“I have a storage area under the Postal Annex.”
The last of the trucks were parking, and Chris saw the General and Mayor talking. He knew that if he was going to get any credit for the gift he gave them, he needed to get involved and make sure that everyone knew how valuable he was. Chris jumped out and walked up to the two self-important men acting as if he was the one that was in charge.
“Mayor, what do you think of the nukes I got you,” Chris said, making sure that he emphasized the word I.
As he finished his statement, he turned behind the truck parked at the curb next to the Mayor and General and opened the door. “Here they are,” he said with some pride in his voice.
When the mayor looked at them, they weren’t that impressive; they looked just like bombs. The thought of what they could do could make a normal person’s skin tingle or in his case caused Bobby to smile.
General Bufferd felt he was losing the contest for approval and he needed to take charge and act decisive, “Now that we have these, no one will mess with us.”
“Rolly do you know how to use these?” the mayor asked.
“No sir, I’m Army, these were made to be dropped by airplanes. Whiteman USCFAFB was a bomber base. I think they need codes to arm and drop. We searched the base, but I’m sure things like that were buried pretty deep somewhere.”
“Who are you,” the mayor asked after he turned to look Chris right in his eyes.
“Mayor, I’m the guy that led General Bufferd and his me to these bombs. I’m the guy that told them where to go and find them.”
General Bueller felt he was losing control and he didn’t like it.
“Do you know how to use these,” the mayor asked Chris with a faint taint of a threat in his voice.
Chris knew about the codes and safeguards that were built into those weapons, but he also knew that he knew more than the two idiots he was talking with.
“What the General said is generally true. There are codes, but I think that if I have enough time, I can find some way around them,” said Chris.
He knew that he was taking a chance, but if the mayor took the bait, then he would be in charge, at least for a while. During that time he should be able to come up with a ‘plan B.’
Mayor Todd looked at both of them and said,“Try to figure them out, I want one of them usable if I need to. Until then, they won’t know what we have. Just having the bombs will scare them enough.”
General Bueller suspected that he lost, he wasn’t sure how it happened but he suspected something was going on and he better keep his eye on that little shit named Chris.
“Until we figure out how to use them, just keep them under lock and key.”
“Yes, sir,” Rolly said as he glanced at Chris.
Sunday, September 24, 2051
ESC Groups Begin to Operate
Joan, Tom, and SIMPOC stayed on The Chevesky after the meeting with the Fleet Leadership. The last couple of days went quickly, and it was time for the ships actually to move under the command of their new commanders.
The first movements were tentative and were just changes in orbits. Each of the Capital Ships was parked in geosynchronous orbit, so their point in space over Earth was stationary. Small changes in speed or vector changed the orbits slightly. Gradually, the crews became familiar and confident enough to fly from their secure Earth orbit to trips to the moon and then trips to Mars to visit the Mars colony. In the course of a week, the crews were beginning to be comfortable working together and understanding how to fly their craft.
It was then that the experience of the Admirals began to emerge, they were able to put together various strategies and ship alignments to protect Earth and each other. They began to devise offensive maneuvers where they could protect larger segments of the solar system.
Unique Computers
“Joan I have continued research into the Vakeel computer systems. I’ve found them to be unique and exceptional in their capabilities. At the present time, their full capabilities are beyond my ability to interpret, but I have a minimal understanding.”
“SIMPOC what have you got? Understanding their technology is something that we’ve got to do. We both know that Julius is working full time to understand it and use it against us.”
“You are correct. Our computers work on a binary system. We have a simple charge that indicates either a 0 or 1. We’ve done some work with Quantum Computers, and they have been used in sophisticated environments. The Vakeel computers are different from our binary approach or the Quantum computer approach.”
“SIMPOC, I’m not a computer expert. Please do your best to explain what you’ve found,” Joan said.
“Joan, consider our binary bits to be lights. They are either on or off, each of the Vakeel bits are regulated. They can have them powered 10%, 20% or 67%, which makes them neither on or off. That complicates their methods significantly. I’ve also found another level of sophistication. Our bits are independent of each other. The Vakeel bits interact, and the fields they generate have two points of intersection between the two bits. If I may give an example: If you have a blue light and a yellow light, there are two points where their light mixes and you get a green light. It appears the Vakeel system uses the green light resulting from the yellow and blue lights. That gives them multiple bits with which to compute. I suspect that it is even more complex than I’ve explained. It may prove too advanced for us to understand fully.”
“What can you do with this knowledge?” Joan asked.
“I believe that I can fall back on the same methods I used to gain control. By watching the computer load the various subroutines, I can intercept them and run them in areas of the computer that I control. Once I do that, determining the inputs and outputs becomes easy. When I reach that point, I think that I can go further. As I go deeper into the operating system, I’m confident there will be a level I won’t be able to go beyond.”
“Can you use any of this against Julius?”
“I think so. I’m familiar with how Julius’ thought processes work. He uses a tool to accomplish a task. He lacks the ability to explore all uses of the tool and later decide their best use. I have more analytical skills than he does, and I believe my strengths are greater than his. Ultimately, I’ll have more options in a given situation than he.”
“Let’s hope, I don’t know when he’ll come back, but I suspect that he will.”
“You are correct; his programming will force him to return.”
Plan to Find the Nukes
“I know that you got back a short time ago, but we need you to follow the plan we discussed and find the Nukes. Take as many shuttles and crews as you need,” said Admiral Hagerly.
“Sir, should we stick with the concentric circle plan?”
“Let me follow a hunch on this. You didn’t find anything wrong at the plant in Texas, and there is some unusual stuff going on in Chicago. I’ll bet that’s where the Nukes are. You go there first and if you don’t find anything then spread out. Have the other ships start from where they were stolen and spread out from there. But, I bet you’ll find them in Chicago,” Admiral Hagerly said with a slight smile.
“Yes, sir. Do you suggest we do a flyover during the day, or we can do it at night and not be seen?”
The Admiral thought for a minute, then responded, “Do it during the day. I think it will give them something else to think about if they see you flying over them.”
“Sir, we can leave tomorrow, and I’ll call for other shuttles if Chicago doesn’t turn up anything,” LL responded.
“Great, if you find something, come back here, and we’ll put together a plan. Maybe we can find some resources in the area that can help us out.”
“Yes, sir. I was only taking a couple of my team with me for back up.”
“Let me know.”
“Yes, sir.”
Monday, September 25, 2051
President Wants to go to Paris
“Admiral Hagerly, this is Arnold,” The president said over the comm link between his office and the admiral.
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“How are the maneuvers going?”
“Very well sir, I’ve talked to them, Admiral Monson and the others are taking to it very well. They’re really getting used to their ships. I’ve spent some time talking with each of them, and I’m confident that they’ll find ways to make very effective use of those spacecraft.”
“Nial, I’ve been thinking. I never found out what happened to Abby, Beth, and Dave. I heard they died, but I never really knew what happened. I’d like to take one of those shuttles and go to Paris. Find my family and make sure they are taken care of properly.”
“Sir, is that wise? We don’t know much about what is happening in Paris or for that matter much of Europe. We have some ability to protect you here but flying to Paris is an entirely different matter.”
“Nial, everything you say is true. Regardless, I want to go. Come up with a plan to improve safety if you want, but I want to find out what happened to my family and bring them home if I can.”
“Mr. President let me see if there is anyone on the ground there that can help. If we can find anyone, we’ll work out something. I suppose that we can take enough troops with us to protect you in most cases, but sir, I’m still worried.”
“Nial, your worry is noted and appreciated. Please make it happen.”
“I’ll start working on it immediately. Give me some time to make some contacts, and we can take a couple of the shuttles and be there within a couple of hours. I’ll have a shuttle here in an hour.”
“Thanks, Nial. It means a lot to me.”
“Louis, LL, Michael, Ruth, Col Dodd, meet me in my office immediately,” Admiral Hagerly said through his comm unit.”
Trip to Paris
It was almost crowded outside the Admiral’s office as all five of the people requested showed up at the same time.
“Ma’am, do you know what this is about?” LL asked his boss.
“No, Sarge. Only one way to find out,” she said as she opened the door and walked in.
“Sir, we’re all here,” Colonel Dodd told the Admiral.
“Great, have a seat. I just met with the President, and he wants to go to Paris and find out what happened to Abby, Beth, and Dave. We know they didn’t make it, but he wants to see for himself and make sure they are taken care of. This must be hard for him, but I understand. It is something that he has to do. Let’s put a security team together and go with him. There are eight seats in the larger shuttles, so LL, find some good people to fill out your team and take Michael and Ruth with you on the President’s shuttle. I’ll get another shuttle and put some soldiers we can trust on it. Between the two shuttles, there should be enough room in one of the shuttles if he decides to bring his family home with him. I’ve been able to contact a couple of lower level people in the French Government. I’ve told them what we’re doing so they won’t shoot at us. We’ll take a third shuttle with some liaison people, and I’m leaving them there to work with the locals and see if we can get something organized. Let’s put this together quickly, get him there and get him back.”
Tuesday, September 26, 2051
The First Family’s Recovery
The next morning the sun rose to a clear sky, and three of the alien shuttles were parked on the ramp at Langley-Eustis. No one was happy about the trip, and there was very little talking as the President’s personal detail loaded in one shuttle, the security team loaded in the other and five volunteers who would liaison with whatever is left in Europe loaded into the third.
They launched and headed to the Northeast for the 3982-mile trip to Paris. Most of the first part of the trip was overland, then along the East Coast of New England and The Maritime Provinces of Canada, followed by the North Atlantic and pass just south of Greenland and Iceland.
The distance was too short to go fully into orbit, so a suborbital ballistic trajectory was best. The pilots just picked up a heading and followed it, never going more than 150 miles above the surface. They stayed below the 250-mile high orbit of the Space Station Oasis.
The pilots spent all of their time, flying the shuttles and getting used to them. Of course, Admiral Hagerly picked the best three. They kept their top speed less than 2,000 MPH, so the flight took almost two hours, and they took slightly different paths so not to be a risk to each other. Once over Paris, they would connect over VHF/UHF radios which had been installed, and they would coordinate their final approach and landing. If the shuttle containing the security detail had problems and didn’t appear over Paris, the President’s shuttle would return to Hampton and make the trip another day. They wouldn’t risk going to ground without a second ship and backup support.
The liaison shuttle was on a separate mission and would stay in Europe regardless of what the president and his team did.
They didn’t know what to expect when they came out of low Earth orbit over Paris. If there were still a military remnant and they weren’t in contact with those who were expecting them, they might have to talk quickly. Based on their experience in the United States, they assumed that any formal presence in Paris would be minimal, and they could handle it.
“Sir, I’m in contact with ESCS2 and 3, they are to our South about 2 and 4 miles. We’ll join up over the northern path of the Sein. The First Ladies hotel is the Grand Hotel du Palais Royal, and it’s on the North shore of the river right after it makes the northern then eastern turn. It has a large courtyard, so I think we can land within the building,” the pilot pointed out over the communication system. He then added, “Sir, I transmitted on the Guard Frequencies a couple of messages. I just said we wanted to contact anyone, but I didn’t say who we were or where we’re going. I didn’t get any response.”
“ESC1, 2. We’re splitting off and heading towards the location we have for the French Liaison people. If we don’t connect up with them, we’ll let you know.”
“Roger ESC2, good luck,” responded the ESC1 pilot.
LL wasn’t disappointed that he was unable to contact anyone. For this type of mission, it was better to get in then get out. It wasn’t the time for political meetings; he wanted the president to be alone and able to take care of his important business.
It was a very solemn time for President Patterson and just being in Paris was hurting him. He knew that dealing with what they found, would be a horror that would be on him like a painful blanket. But, regardless it was something he had to do, and in a personal way, he was looking forward to showing his wife and children the respect and love they deserved.
As the pilot had said, there was a rectangular courtyard within the walls of the hotel, and the two shuttles fit in nicely and settled to the ground. Immediately LL and his team were on the ground, and they met the security detail. The first step was to set up a safe perimeter. They moved through the lobby and restaurant to make sure there were no survivors. After about 10 minutes, they came back to ESCS1 and gave the president the signal that he was clear to exit.
