Jesse's Starship (24 page)

“We should have taken them.”

“They wouldn’t go. I know my father and he would have fought us.”

“You could have told him who you are.”

“Would you have believed it?” Jess stood back from Elle, “Pete, how long after we left did the other Q ships show up?”

“Less than ten seconds.”

“How long would it take you to convert your power to dark energy?”

“Twelve point three seconds.”

“So if we had not made it out when we did, what would you have been forced to do?”

“I’d have to run or face possible destruction.”

Jess looked at Elle, “And we would have been trapped on board the facility having to hold off the guards while help was right outside.”

“They would have probably just blown up the facility and removed you as a threat.”

Elle sighed, “I’m sorry; I just want them back in my life.”

“Elle, they would have killed all of them along with us if we hadn’t got out. Pete, why didn’t they just call ahead and tell the guards to prevent us from leaving?”

“The Facility doesn’t have a long range communicator; that’s why the guards are starved for information.”

Elle looked at the ceiling, “Why don’t they have one?”

“The communication system costs more than the facility.”

“Are you serious?”

“I am.”

“They how did they know we were there?”

“The central library has monitors in every Holding Facility to watch the aliens and share it with young students. That equipment only sends a one way video transmission. It was the library that contacted Hetzel and told him someone was at the holding facility immediately after he left.”

Elle blew out a breath, “I’m sorry, Jess. I’m thankful you got us out.”

“We’re not going to be able to save our families without resolving the issue with Earth’s destruction.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“I’m not sure; I need some time to think.”

“I’ve just heard a message.” Elle and Jess looked up, “Hetzel wishes to speak with you.”

Jess looked at Elle and said, “Pete, can you do it without being in danger?”

“I’m inside the dark energy force field, they won’t be able to find me.”

“Put him on.”

“It appears we have something you want.”

“Get in line; you’re not alone.”

“Perhaps we can negotiate a settlement of our little problem.”

“I’m listening.”

“You can check with your ship, there are literally millions of habitable planets that don’t have intelligent life. We will allow you to take the humans in the facility you just visited and go to one of them and live your lives in peace.”

“And in return for this…”

“You will give us back our ship.”

“Which you will promptly use to destroy my home world.”

“Your species will survive with you on your new planet. You can live in peace and possibly build a better civilization.”

“Hetzel, what’s to keep you from destroying the planet we go to?”

“We will not violate an agreement.”

Jess looked up, “Pete.”

“He’s right. An agreement made by a government representative is binding. The sanctity of an agreement is the only thing that holds their civilization together. If the government violates an agreement, there would be mass rebellion.”

“I don’t want to sound unappreciative, but four billion lives for several hundred just doesn’t sound right.”

“Four billion and several hundred with no survivors sounds worse, does it not?”

“There’s got to be a better way than this.”

Hetzel made a clicking sound, “You just don’t have the history to help you see.”

“See what?”

“When a species lives on violence, it will never turn from it. It will endanger everyone it touches. I’ve seen some nasty species; yours is in the top five of the nastiest.”

“We need some time to think about this; however, I have a news flash for you.”

“What is that?”

“Your civilization has killed more intelligent beings than all of those five combined. What does that make you?” The link stopped and Hetzel was surprised by the question. He initially thought his civilization was justified…but…that creature made a point that was hard to argue against. He had difficulty sleeping after the conversation. The Government never examined a violent species’ motivations; they were simply eliminated. Did that make his civilization better than the ones they destroyed? He was sure the violent civilizations could justify their violence; what was the difference? He finally worked out the answer; his civilization had the biggest gun. That finding troubled him greatly.

• • •

“What are we going to do?”

“Well, one thing is for sure, we can’t go along with his suggestion.”

“I agree with you, Jess but tell me why you say that.”

“If we turned Peter over to them; they would make him stop evaluating information. He would become a simple yes and no machine again. I wouldn’t do that to him. No matter what we decide to do, the three of us stay together.” Jess stretched, “We need to get some sleep.”

Pete evaluated Jess’ statement for more than three hours. At the end of his evaluation, he arrived at the same conclusion; they would stay together regardless of what happened. He decided to change his protocols. He overrode the energy transfer system and reset the conduit between the positron and dark matter collectors. It wasn’t safe to have to take so long to switch between the two. He studied the engineer’s manuals and determined that the engineers had built a level four safety factor into the bypass. The time was changed to two seconds. He wasn’t going to allow harm to come to his crew by being unable to make the switch fast enough.

He changed the communications protocols as well and replaced one of the feeds coming into the system with the feed going from the Holding Facility to the Central Library. He knew the safety of his crew’s families was important to them; he would keep an eye out in case they were placed in danger; he knew Jess and Elle would want to know if that happened.

Finally, while they were sleeping, he moved to a deserted star system and found a twenty mile long asteroid. He aimed his bow beam at it and fired the tightest and hottest beam he could focus on it; the beam was only slightly larger than a broom straw; it blew through the asteroid easily.

Pete adjusted the power back and kept it small. He fired again and the beam barely penetrated to the other side. Pete backed off on the power again and fired the beam a third time. It hit the asteroid and burned three feet into the surface. He locked in the power setting used for each beam into the weapon’s data base and moved the ship to the fifth planet from the central star. The planet was slightly larger than Earth and had a dense nitrogen/methane atmosphere. He fired the tiny beam at the planet’s surface on the weakest setting and it failed to hit. He upped the power twenty percent and the next shot burned into the planet’s rocky surface.”

It wasn’t easy to control a beam powerful enough to destroy a planet. For the next month, while Jess and Elle were asleep, Pete would fire the beam at different settings to determine the power needed for different targets. By the end of the fifth week, he had all of his selections set and the weapon system would instantly use the downloaded data to select the appropriate beam for any target chosen. The first one on the list was set to hit a being on a planet’s surface without harming anyone close to them. Pete could see that particular talent was going to be needed. He suspected Jess and Elle didn’t realize it just yet.

M
ike flew the scout copter north at 130 miles per hour and stayed next to the ridge line of trees running north from Southern California. He flew in to the central valley and stayed at the ridgeline of hills that surrounded it. He stayed away from the coast. There were radar pickets off the west coast and they would have picked him up. He pressed a button on the handset and looked at the list. He scrolled down the list and pressed the highlighted name.

“Hello, Sir.”

“Adams, have you been given your next assignment?”

“I have.”

“Is it a General Atkins?”

“Boy, you’re good. I’ve been ordered to collect him for you.”

“I’m changing that order. They know we’re coming after him and he won’t be leaving his cover for you to gather him up. I no longer desire to talk with him; you should change your plan and remove him as a problem.”

“Are you authorizing me to use deadly force?”

“I am; I honestly think that’s going to be the only way to get his hands off using our Jets to do his dirty work. It would be nice to know what he knows; however, he has to be removed from power.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Don’t be fool hardy!”

“You know me; I’m known for my good decision making.”

“Don’t be fool hardy.”

Adams laughed, “Actually, this makes it easier. I’ll see what I can do.”

Mike ended the call and presses another button, “Hello.”

“Major, have you found out anything?”

“It appears there have been an extraordinary number of calls between the Ranking Russian and Chinese Generals to several phone numbers here.”

“Do you have a line on those numbers?”

“I’ve been able to see the numbers but not where they’re located.”

“Is that possible?”

“If you asked me that question yesterday, I would have said no; I’ve learned differently while doing this.”

“Notify Branton that I’m sanctioning the removal of some of the ones we know are working against us.”

“By removal, do you mean kill?”

““Removal is such a nicer word.”

“It is, isn’t it; I’ll let him know. I don’t think he’s going to like assassinating anyone.”

“There’s another harsh word; let’s stick to removing.”

“The General knows what has to be done. I suspect getting to these bozos isn’t going to be easy; I’d expect them to resist.”

“Major, is there a place where I could pick up some supplies without worrying about being seen?”

“What sort of supplies?”

“Mainly groceries and other survival goods.”

“Are you going to ground?”

“It looks like I have no choice.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m flying north up the Central Valley in California. I’m just about due east of San Luis Obispo.”

“Give me a minute.” Mike slowed the helicopter and waited for Blackwell to come back. After four minutes Blackwell said, “I have a place where you can refuel and pick up some supplies.”

“Do you think it’s safe?”

“A very close friend of mine lives in Vista Finestra, California. I’ve just spoken to him and he says he’ll be glad to help us.”

“Where is Vista Finestra?”

“You need to cross the valley and head toward Bakersfield. You should run into highway 58 after you clear the valley and it will take you to Bakersfield. Do you have that so far?”

“I do.”

“Go around Bakersfield and look for highway 178, which heads northeast. After about thirty miles, you’ll see Vista Finestra right after you pass the Marin Sports Complex. Hwy 178 becomes Kern Canyon Road and the next community is what you’re looking for.”

“Alright.”

“You’ll be looking for Comanche Drive; it’s a major road that intersects 178 just before you come to Alfred Harrell Highway. Running along 178, immediately after Comanche Drive, is a cleared area with a large house. Next to the highway you’ll see a barn and a long storage building. Land close to the storage building; that’s where he has the fuel tanks.”

“Does he have aviation grade gasoline?”

“He owns a helicopter. He’ll refuel your bird and take you into Tuscany to buy whatever supplies you need. I’ll text you his cell phone number and you can call him when you get close.”

“Thank you, Major.”

“Stay safe, Mike. Things are starting to get dangerous.”

“I’ll contact you after I settle in.” Mike turned east and flew low over the central valley and found Highway 58. He followed it to Bakersfield and flew north around the city. He looked at the aerial map and after a few minutes found Kern Canyon Road. He followed it northeast and quickly saw Vista Finestra ahead. He slowed and banked the AH-6 gunship toward highway. He saw an intersection and the cleared area Blackwell had described. He circled around and picked up the handset. He called the phone number and a voice said, “Ellers.”

“This is a friend of Major Blackwell.”

“Bring it in close to the long building.” The call ended abruptly. Mike looked at the handset and wondered what was going on. He swung around the house and saw a man walking toward the storage building. He blew out a breath and took the AH-6 in and landed next to the long building.

“Now that’s some piece of hardware you’ve got there. They’ve really changed the Little Bird since Vietnam.” Mike saw a man in his sixties shaking his head as he walked around the gunship. “I’m going to assume those guns are hot.”

“They are.”

“I see the pods also have a full load of stingers.”

“You know your helicopters.”

“I flew one in Nam. This one you’re in would have flown circles around my Huey.” The man put out his hand, “I’m Mac Ellers.”

Mike shook his hand, “I’m Mike Sanders. I really appreciate you helping me out.”

“I don’t know what’s going on but Eric says you’re one of the good guys; that’s good enough for me.”

“Good guys?”

“Sorry about hanging up on you but I don’t stay on a cell phone long enough to be tracked.” Mike wondered if he was dealing with a paranoid. Mac saw his expression and smiled, “No, I’m not crazy; I just don’t like being watched. Come on, let’s get this bird fed.” Mike opened the cap to the fuel tank and Mac pulled a long fuel line out of the storage building. Mac inserted the nozzle into the tank and whistled, “How big is this tank?”

“It’s about double the normal capacity.”

“I did the same thing with mine.” Mike nodded and after thirty minutes the hose clicked off. “You must have had more than half a tank.”

“I did; but you can never have too much.”

“Well, let’s go do some shopping.” Mike followed Mac to the house and saw a Ford F-350 Super duty diesel truck.

“Nice truck.”