18: Discussions

When Calvin reached CnC, he immediately saw Ceo Lenz in an earnest conversation with Kris Fawkes. He vaguely remembered her talking to him the other day, as he was coming out of the sciences section. But for the life of him, he couldn’t remember what the subject had been… he had been that tired at the time.

At the moment, however, their conversation sounded like it was related to the order to suspend flights. As he approached, he could hear more of the conversation between them.

“President Lambert’s office is being inundated with calls from citizens who were scheduled to go home today and tomorrow,” Kris was saying. “These people have loved ones and business contacts on Earth, depending on them, and they cannot afford to stay on Verdant longer than necessary!”

“I empathize with them,” Julian replied calmly. “However, the situation out there is escalating into dangerous territory. I’m sure those people wouldn’t rather leave now and be shot down in a misunderstanding, would they?”

“Obviously, no one wants that. But if something like that happened, the President is prepared to deal with the guilty parties.”

“Even if it turns out to be American citizens?”

“Who said Americans are going to attack Americans?”

“Kris, that’s exactly how dangerous the situation is. Anyone could end up shooting at anything! I’m trying to keep the peace, and that means keeping travelers out of harm’s way.”

“But for how long?”

“I wish I could tell you.”

“The President will not consider that a satisfactory answer.”

“He’ll just have to live with dissatisfaction.”

Despite the adversarial tone of the conversation, Calvin noticed that the two of them seemed to be able to discuss it without antagonizing each other, which he considered significant… although he wasn’t sure why. Finally, he cleared his throat for attention. Julian noticed him first, and Kris turned when Julian focused his attention on him.

“Ceo,” Calvin began, “I need to speak to you.” He decided to be discrete, with an American diplomat standing nearby. “It’s about the project you put me on.”

He’d hoped the Ceo would use his interruption to break off his conversation with Kris Fawkes and take him into his office. Instead, Julian said, “Stick around, Doctor,” and used the interruption to break off his confrontation with Kris and check on one of the workstations. Kris, taken by surprise by Julian’s abruptly breaking off their discussion, was left standing with Calvin as Julian moved away. She looked after Julian for an extended moment, then turned away, clearly not sure what to do next. Momentarily, her eyes came to rest on Calvin.

The moment their eyes connected, Calvin remembered their conversation in the hallway of the sciences section. She had asked him about a supposedly secretive freight project being handled by Dr. Silver under Aaron Hardy, which he’d known nothing about. She’d also asked what he’d been working on, himself, and he had evaded her question, downplaying his work and suggesting it was going nowhere (which, at the time, it was). He realized it might occur to Kris that he was waiting to talk to Ceo Lenz about the same project now… and given their tense situation, he wasn’t sure how much he should reveal to her about it before he spoke to the Ceo.

At that moment, Kris smiled. “It’s all right, Doctor: If it’s something you’d rather not discuss in front of an American diplomat, I understand.”

Calvin eyed her with barely-concealed shock. What was this woman… clairvoyant? He fought the urge to simply retreat from her, and found his voice. “Well… not until I speak to the Ceo first, at least.” Then he turned away and tried to casually move to a nearby workstation and pretend to be interested in the readings thereupon.

Julian did not see their exchange, as he was already looking over a tactical workstation beside Reya Luis. They were both glad to see that there were apparently no ground-based flights, manned or ballistic, entering orbit around Verdant, Tranquil or Fertile. However, there seemed to be problems with the monitors surrounding Qing, which had also gone silent. They were examining what data they had, trying to guess at what might be the problem.

“What else is happening on the ground?” Julian asked.

“Apparently, riots in almost half the spaceports on Earth,” Reya replied. “People are trying to get onto flights to the satellites… but since most of them are grounded by the ash cover, or by our lockdowns, you’ve got a lot of angry people crammed together down there.”

“Desperate ones, too, if they’re crawling into ballistics to get up here,” Julian added.

“At least we don’t have to worry about the catapults, too,” Reya muttered as an aside. “It would suck to have them lobbing rocks at us in the middle of all this.”

Julian nodded absently. The catapults were the mass-drivers at the lunar mining colonies, used to shoot raw materials for building to the satellites. The catapults were essentially fixed machines, with minimal aiming capability: therefore, they generally operated only at periods when they were optimally aligned to the satellites, making sure their payloads would be targeted at the recovery nets set up near each satellite. At present, the Moon was presently outside of that launch window, so, even if they were so inclined, the crews there would not be able to bombard the satellites from above.

Julian reached over and adjusted some of the workstation settings, over the shoulder of the technician stationed there. “What’s Qing playing at? Are they deliberately blocking their signals?”

“Maybe just to us,” Reya suggested. “Beijing may be communicating with them just fine.”

“God, Hirohito,” Julian muttered, “don’t let it happen.”

“Does Chang have much of a choice?” Reya asked.

“He’s always got a choice,” Julian replied. “He’s the Ceo, isn’t he? He’s up here, isn’t he?”

“But he’s probably got plenty of party members watching his every move,” Reya pointed out. “If China wants in… there’s probably not much he can do about it.”

“Well, he better think of something—”

Julian’s comment was interrupted by a technician suddenly at his side. “Ceo, I have Dr. Silver asking for you. She’s looking for authorization to send a Nautilus out.”

“What the Hell for… right now?” Julian glared at the technician, then followed her to her workstation, passing adjacent to Kris and Calvin. He reached the workstation and jabbed at the com. “What is it, Doctor?”

“Ceo, I have a valuable test-bed outside that I need to have retrieved,” Dr. Silver said. “Chiu tells me the Nautilus we had scheduled is grounded—”

“Everything is grounded, Doctor,” Julian stated firmly. “You may have heard that there have been some security problems this morning?”

“Of course, sir,” Silver replied. “However, that test-bed is a vital part of a project we’ve been running, and we can’t afford to lose its data. It was sent out before your lockdown order… we’re only asking to retrieve it!”

“Doctor, the risk to—”

“If you examine its coordinates,” Silver said over him, “you’ll see that the test-bed is in upper orbit. It is outside of your security area. It can be retrieved without presenting a risk to your fighters. Please, sir, it’s very important that—”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Julian said finally, stabbing the com off. He started to turn to the technician, when he felt Reya’s hand on his arm.

“Julian, Wasp three just called in. Three and four report a signal that just appeared, where there was none a minute ago. The coordinates correspond to Silver’s test-bed. Hunter is requesting a code two priority override of a classified status to investigate.”

“Classified?” Julian repeated. “What’s classified about it?”

“I don’t know—”

“Find out. And find Aaron. Confirm he knows about that thing. Are the skies still clear?”

“Yes,” Reya replied.

“All right, go.” Reya turned and headed away, while Julian reconsidered his orders to the technician. “Have the bays prepare a Nautilus to get Silver’s test-bed, but give it express orders to proceed only with a Wasp escort. It is to pick up the test-bed, but not to manipulate it in any way, and return it to the bays.”

“Yessir,” the technician nodded.

Julian then moved back to the tactical station. After checking the board, he chose the Wasps stationed at the leeward side of orbit, and hit the com. “Wasp six, CnC. You are ordered to leave station and accompany a Nautilus. Monitor while they pick up the test-bed. Make sure that the Nautilus recovers it only, and does not manipulate it in any way. Wasp five, remain on station. Confirm orders.”

“CnC, Wasp six. Orders confirmed. On my way to the bay.”

“CnC, Wasp five, remaining on station.”

Reya appeared at Julian’s side. “Aaron’s already on his way here.”

“Good. What did you find out about the test-bed?”

“Nothing yet,” Reya replied. “Dr. Silver hasn’t responded to my call.”

“I just talked to her!”

“I know,” Reya said. “I can send security to fetch her.”

“Do that. I want her up here right now. Even if she has to be hogtied and wheeled in on a hand-truck.”

“Hi.” Julian and Reya turned to see Aaron beside them. He looked down at Reya. “I got your message. What’s going on? I mean, besides the obvious.”

“Come on,” Julian ordered. As he turned, he called out, “Dr. Rios! Miss Fawkes! Accompany us, please.” Then he strode out of CnC, past the security detail standing by the entrance, and veered towards the small conference room just around the corner. Calvin and Kris immediately fell in step behind Aaron, who threw Kris a quick glance before proceeding after them. Reya followed close behind Julian, issuing orders through her com to have Dr. Silver immediately escorted to CnC, and adding coded numbers that Kris had never before heard, but she imagined Lenz and Hardy had. Julian entered the conference room and proceeded around the table, to take a seat at its head. He waited patiently for everyone to enter and seat themselves. Calvin, being the last to enter, closed the door behind them and took his seat.

“To begin with,” Julian started when they were all seated, “I asked Miss Fawkes to join us in here, because I want to be clear that we are not discussing actions which would be considered to be aggressive or damaging against any other political group… most especially the United States.” He looked directly at Kris, to make sure she accepted his statement. Kris nodded her understanding, and with a smile managed to communicate an appreciation for his attitude and candor, at the same time.

Julian nodded back. “Good. Secondly, we need to discuss matters of security. To begin, Dr. Rios: You said you had some news about our project?”

Calvin nodded curtly, and spared Kris a quick glance… but Julian had made it clear that he didn’t intend to hide anything from her, so he suppressed the need to be discrete. “Yes, sir. With the help of some of the people down in sciences, we’ve come up with an idea that might allow us to construct a defensive system powerful enough to destroy incoming missiles and ballistics. It’s just a theory, but it works in the simulations.”

“The force field?” Reya stated. “You mean it can work?”

“Well, it’s not a force field per se,” Calvin clarified to Reya, then turned back to face Julian. “Tranquil’s force field didn’t work, because they couldn’t find enough energy to power it. That’s just impossible for us to accomplish. But what you can do, sir, is to use a field as a combination of tools. The first tool would be a detection array that would pinpoint objects passing through it. Then you use the field to aggregate a surplus of power in that one location, directed there long enough to destroy whatever was passing through it at that moment.”

“Surplus power?” Aaron repeated. “From what?”

“From medium-power particle beams,” Calvin replied. “The beams will direct a discharge into that region, and they can do it fast enough to get the beam there while the incoming missile is still in the field. The beam’s power doesn’t directly hit the incoming, because it’s too hard to aim… instead, it pours its energy into the field at that local region, and the field, with the extra energy, does the job of frying the missile.”

Calvin paused to take in the expressions around the table. Julian had the look of a man busy calculating the defensive capabilities of the system, and Reya was slowly nodding as if she was thinking along the same lines, and perhaps had already decided it was a workable system. Aaron’s eyes widened as he seemingly contemplated the logistics of such an involved but important project. Kris Fawkes’ face was perhaps the most open of all, giving him a look that suggested she thought the idea was brilliant.

In fact, that was exactly what Kris was thinking, with a caveat: If it worked. She could see that the others seemed to regard Calvin’s report as positive news, but she was most interested in Aaron Hardy. Although the look on his face was distinctly positive, she could see another facet to it: He was reflecting on this new information in relation to something else, and it seemed to bring a measure of additional relief to him. She immediately thought of the mysterious freight project, and suspected he believed this development would buy his project some time, and possibly provide some additional cover for its completion.

She knew she was on the right track a second later, when Aaron looked her way… then, as quickly, he looked away from her, trying visibly to mask his expression from the rest of the room. The look he had given her was all she needed to know… she had read him like a book.

In the meantime, Julian had started speaking. “You’ve tested this in simulation columns? What will we need to build a workable prototype?”

“I was in the process of developing that,” Calvin explained, “but I hadn’t finished it yet. Considering the situation, I thought it best not to wait any longer to tell you.”

“Agreed,” Julian said, turning to Aaron. Before he spoke, however, the door to the conference room opened. Everyone looked up to see Dr. Silver, backed by two security women, enter the room. Julian nodded at the security team, and they remained outside and closed the door before them.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get your earlier message, Ceo,” Dr. Silver explained as she walked in. “I was in a clean room. What’s this about?”

“Sit down, Doctor,” Julian invited. “We were just discussing a defensive system that Dr. Rios has been researching, with members of your department.”

“Yes, I’m aware of his research,” Silver nodded, sitting down next to Aaron.

“Good,” Julian said, “because I think it’s time to take the next step. Aaron, I’m hereby ordering every resource in the sciences sections to be devoted to giving us a working prototype of the Doctor’s defensive system, asap.”

Dr. Silver immediately turned to exchange glances with Aaron, and Kris examined both of them carefully. There was every reason to expect them to be reluctant to carry out something that would have such an extensive impact on the sciences department, and their expressions made that clear. But there was more, from both of them, but especially from Aaron: There was at least one project that neither of them wanted to halt.

Julian looked to them impatiently. “Is there a problem?”

In response, Aaron and Dr. Silver turned to Julian. “Julian,” Aaron started, “certainly we can divert significant resources to this defensive system, but to interrupt every—”

“Aaron, you might not have noticed,” Julian interrupted him. “But Fertile has been boarded, and Qing deflected a boarding attempt. The shipload of refugees from the Qing attempt crash-landed on Earth, killing all aboard, and there’s armed fighting aboard Fertile right now. We no longer have the luxury of time! We need everything on this, and I mean everything!”

“But Julian… it’s just not feasible to…” Aaron protested, trying to find stronger words. Dr. Silver, seeing her chief faltering, decided to jump in.

“Ceo, some of the projects we’re in the middle of will be ruined if they’re simply halted in mid-stream. We’re talking about a significant waste of our limited resources, not to mention finances, if they have to be restarted later…”

As Dr. Silver spoke, Julian briefly scanned the others at the table… and noticed at that moment that Kris Fawkes was giving him a hard look. Remaining silent and barely moving, using only her flashing eyes, she indicated Aaron and Silver, and impressed upon him the significance of their resistance to his order. That was all Julian needed to remind him of their conversation before he’d met Gordon at the Aztlan.

“All right,” Julian broke in, interrupting Dr. Silver’s discussion, and taking her and Aaron in with a withering look. “Aaron, I don’t tell you how to do your job, and I give you plenty of leeway as regards to your staff. But you two are avoiding telling me about something, and I’ve had enough. What are you two keeping from me?” Something else occurred to him. “And does it have something to do with that test-bed you were so adamant about recovering, Doctor?”

After a moment, Dr. Silver dropped her head perceptively, then turned to Aaron, leaving it up to her chief to explain. Aaron took in her expression, and the angry look on his superior’s face, and let a sigh of air escape through his nose. “Well, all right: Yes, we’ve been working on a project that we’ve been keeping quiet.” He put his hands up defensively. “But it wasn’t because it was that secret… really. It was just, the nature of this project, it’s… out of the pale, so to speak, and we didn’t want to bring it to anyone’s attention before—”

“Aaron, what are you talking about?” Julian insisted.

Aaron mentally switched gears in his explanation. “It’s a series of experiments, designed to handle freight differently. To… to transport it… differently. And change the nature of our freight relationship with Earth.” He glanced around the conference table, to see if anyone was following his explanation. Only Dr. Silver watched him dispassionately, everyone else looked on in confusion. “We’ve been experimenting with a method of using quantum cataloging systems to dissemble the component atoms of an object and translate that into a communications stream. We would then send that communications stream to a second location and use it to guide the assembly of component atoms, recreating the original object in its literal form at the second location.”

The table was quiet. Calvin, the next most scientifically-literate person in the room after Dr. Silver, and probably more than Aaron, was the first to speak: “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Reya piped up next. “What the hell did all that mean?”

And finally, Julian: “Are you talking about what I think you’re talking about?”

“Which is what?” Reya asked anyone in the room to clarify.

“Matter-energy transporters,” Calvin said plainly.

“Transporters?” Reya said so loudly her voice almost broke. “Brane-Boy stuff?”

In response, Aaron threw his hands up. “See? This is why we were keeping it quiet! We knew there’d be this reaction! But the fact of the matter is, we’re making significant progress on it!”

“You are?” Julian gaped. “Dr. Silver?”

“Yes,” she nodded, shrugging as if it was really no big deal. “And yes, by the way, that’s what the test-bed was for. We’ve managed to break down the components of the test-bed, and reassemble it at another location… then to return it to its original location, intact.”

“But that’s just the beginning,” Aaron added. “You may not realize it, but if we can translate an object into a communications stream… we can potentially store that stream, make copies of it, and recreate it whenever we need to! All we’d need is the raw atomic material to assemble from! And the same system would allow us to break down and more completely recycle our used and waste elements, making all of Verdant more efficient—”

“We’re wasting valuable resources,” Reya complained, “on Brane-Boy transporters.”

“Julian, there’s something else,” Aaron went on. “This might have defensive implications, as well. Think about it: If we can use it to transport a physical object from one place to another, we might be able to send out objects that will prematurely detonate incoming missiles.” He thought about what he had just said a minute more. “Why, we might even be able to send—”

“Hold on!” Reya shouted. “We’re not going to ‘send’ anything anywhere!”

“No, we’re not,” Julian agreed before Aaron could go on. He had also picked up on what Aaron was about to suggest: That this transport system might be able to send bombs and missiles of its own. Sometimes, he reflected, Aaron seemed to allow his analytical mind simply outrun his practical mind, like a child intent on eating every piece of candy in a store at once. And in front of an American diplomat… he looked over at Kris Fawkes. Any moment, he expected her to leave the room, for the express purpose of immediately contacting President Lambert and describing to him this potential threat to national security… which, after all, was her job to do.

To his surprise, Kris remained seated, and levelly returned his gaze. It took Julian only a moment to realize the significance of that.

He turned to his Coo. “Aaron, Dr. Silver, there might be potential in this… transporter thing. But we simply don’t have the time to explore it now. As of this moment, it’s over. Understand?” Dr. Silver remained silent. Aaron started to speak, but a look from Julian cowed him. “Then take Dr. Rios’ research, and get busy making a workable prototype of his defensive system. Go with them, Dr. Rios, and call in any and every resource and staff you need, on my direct authorization. Go.”

Calvin was on his feet first, followed by Aaron, then Dr. Silver. Together, they hurried out of the conference room, closing the door behind them, leaving Julian, Reya and Kris in the room. Their symbolic positions at the table were clear, Reya seated to Julian’s left, Kris seated on the far end of the table from them both.

Julian turned to Reya. “Reya, I’ll join you in CnC shortly.”

Reya looked to Julian, then to Kris, and back. She reflected that, a few days ago, she might have been glad to see her commander showing interest in getting Kris alone for a moment. But this wasn’t the moment she envisioned. Slowly, she rose from her chair, and vacated the room without a backward glance.

When the door closed, Kris stood up. Slowly she walked around the table towards Julian, who also stood as she approached. Julian started to speak, but Kris started before him.

“I may have mentioned,” she said, “that I’m a Verdant resident. As such, I have a vested interest in the well-being of this satellite… my home.” She stopped next to Julian, and casually leaned against the edge of the conference table, leaving her looking up at Julian. “I am also highly trained in the ability to… understand people. It is my personal and professional opinion that you would not take an offensive stance against the United States of America without direct provocation, and that you would not allow offensive weapons to be developed on Verdant. You do this out of a sense of honor and righteousness, and because you do not want Verdant to be considered an enemy or aggressor.

“I want you to know,” Kris continued, “that I understand what you are doing. I’m on your side… we’re on the same side,” she amended. She then reached out and put a hand on Julian’s arm. “And I would consider it part of my sense of honor and righteousness to keep you informed of any and all actions taken by the United States government that might undermine your efforts. I want you to understand what I am doing, as well.”

Her eyes bored up into Julian’s, who returned her gaze evenly. She could see something deep in there, a spark of… a desire for… openness, perhaps? But before she could nail it down, a look of skepticism seemed to slide over it, masking it away, and Julian said, “It would be a good idea for both of us if you went to your President and made your report, Miss Fawkes.”

After a moment, Kris allowed her hand to slip down from Julian’s arm, which was like sliding off of granite. Then she stood up, bringing her eyes almost level to Julian’s, and nodded. Without another word, she proceeded across the room, opened the door, and left the conference room. She left the door open, making it easy for Julian to listen to her receding footsteps down the corridor.