The Gift (24 page)

“Yes, Sir.”

Ten minutes later precisely, Web walked up the concrete driveway toward what appeared to be an empty foundation. Walking confidently, he took a left at the sidewalk and approached where he thought the door would be. Stopping just shy of walking into the house if it was there, he reached out and found nothing. He moved closer and repeated the process. Finding nothing once again, he stepped onto the foundation. The house was gone.

Web activated his secure radio. “Lieutenant Evans, get those vehicles here now! Everyone else, rally on me.”

Web called the point of contact listed on the door of the National Guard Armory. The phone was answered on the third ring.

“Hello,” A man’s voice answered, clearly annoyed at being bothered so late in the evening.

“First Sergeant Richardson?” Web asked.

“Who’s asking?”

“My name is Colonel Web, USAF. Are you First Sergeant Richardson?”

“Yes, Sir. What can I do for you, Sir?”

Web was pleased by the change in tone. “I need you to come down to the Armory and let my team and I in. We need a CP for the next couple of days at least and this appears to be the best option in the neighborhood.”

“Sir, I can’t just let you into the armory. You’d have to have authorization from higher up the food chain than me and it’s getting kind of late to be disturbing folks.”

“This is a matter of national security. I’ll disturb whoever I have to. So, who do you need to hear the order from in order to get you down here now?”

“Well, Sir, I’ve never been asked that. With you being Air Force, I imagine it would have to be the Adjutant General.”

“First Sergeant, I’m going to hang up now. You’ll be receiving a phone call with authorization instructions shortly.”

“All right.”

Web disconnected and then made a second call. “Jack, I’m at a national guard armory in Lewistown. The POC needs proof we’re authorized to use it. He wants to hear it from the AG or higher. I doubt they know each other, so find a way to convince the guy and get it done yesterday, then get your ass up here.” Web gave Jack the first sergeant’s name and number before he disconnected.
 

Turning back to his team, Web said, “All right ladies, it looks like we’re going to have a little free time before we can get set up inside. We’re going to use it to hone our skills in nanite management. If you haven’t discussed nanites with your respective gifts yet, do so when I’m done. The short version is nanites can apparently build anything, given the right mix of resources. They can also destroy pretty much anything to get those resources, or just to prove a point like the subject and his team did with that house. I want you to practice manipulating and controlling them during every free moment you have. If you have to take a piss, use nanites to aim the stream.” That garnered him a few light laughs. “That may be funny, but what isn’t funny is the fact that our opponent is more capable in this regard than we are. You all know what happens when you go against a more capable opponent, right? Fix it.”

Web walked to the edge of the parking lot and began taking his own advice. He started by creating basic three-dimensional shapes, using material taken from the field that started where the parking lot ended. He was working on a star when his phone rang. “This is Web.”

“Yes, Sir. This is First Sergeant Richardson. I don’t know who you are, Sir, but I’m on my way. Shouldn’t be more than ten minutes.”

“Thanks, Top.” Web disconnected and resumed practicing.

Morning broke on the armory without any signs of progress in the search.
 
Web’s mood was reflective of his team’s. The 15th Reconnaissance Squadron out of Creech Air Force Base, Nevada had arrived during the night and was actively reconnoitering over and around Lewiston with more Predator drones than operated in Afghanistan at the peak of the conflict. Web was in possession of the most granular aerial survey data of the region that had ever existed, none of which put him any closer to finding Sam.

Jack interrupted Web’s reverie, “The commander of the 512th is here, Sir.”

Web had requested a rapid deployment military police company from FORSCOM, the command responsible for the Army’s land fighting forces, because he wanted a self-supporting unit of combat soldiers who had a better grasp of the concept of non-lethal force than infantry soldiers. The 512th Military Police Company out of Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri was what he received in response.

“Send him over.” Web replied.

“Her, Sir.”

“Okay, send her over.”

A moment later a tall blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman wearing camouflaged ACUs approached. Web noted that she wore an academy ring on her right hand and nothing on her left. She stopped two paces in front of the desk Web was seated at and while standing at attention said, “Captain Fox reporting as ordered, Sir.”

“Relax, Captain. Have a seat.”

Captain Fox looked at the two mismatched chairs in front of the desk and decided on the brown one with the fake leather. She took her seat and waited for Web to begin.

“Fox, huh? That can’t have been easy at the academy.” West said, his voice making it clear that he was not making an advance.

“There were moments, Sir.”

“What’s your first name?”

“Emily, Sir.”

“All right, Emily. Before we get into why you’re here, I want to commend you on the speed with which you got your unit here. I understand you were wheels up within eight hours of notification. Very impressive.”

“Thank you, Sir. We’ve had a lot of practice and I’ve got the best NCOs in the Corps.”

“You’re going to need them. Tell me about your table of organization.”

“Yes, Sir. The 512th is organized into five platoons, four consisting of combat MPs, the fifth made up of support personnel. Each platoon of MPs consists of four squads. Each squad has three, three-person teams. Each team has its own Humvee, a crew-served weapon and comms. They are organized and trained to operate independently for extended periods of time. The support platoon includes personnel and equipment to feed us and keep our equipment operational. Would you like more detail, Sir?”

“That’s sufficient for now. So, on paper you have forty-eight teams capable of independent operation. Are all of your teams operational?”

“Yes, Sir. We received augmentation from our sister company just before departure. We’re good to go.”

“Then let’s get your troops working. Here’s what I need you to do…”

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-E
IGHT

Sam navigated his way through the Judith Mountain trails northeast of Lewistown without the aid of the Jeep’s headlights until he found what he was looking for. It took about an hour and a half with Adia’s help and Sam’s agreement to allow his night vision to be substantially improved. The alternative, waiting until morning, was unacceptable.

He parked the SUV as far off the trail as he safely could and exited the vehicle, leaving Matt in the back. He estimated Matt would be out for another thirty minutes or more. After walking a few feet away from the vehicle, Sam turned to watch Adia’s improved camouflage take effect. The layer of nanites that had presented as multiple colors of paint now displayed the land beneath and around the vehicle. A sheet of nanite fabric extended across each wheel well and a skirt of the same material extended from the base of the truck to the ground. The fabric performed the same function as the paint. Within moments Sam was unable to see the SUV.

“Impressive, Adia. Is it as difficult to spot thermally as it is to see visually?”

“Not yet, but that will be so soon. Rather than mask the signature, I am bleeding it off into the ground deep beneath the truck, well below the level of detection.”

“When you’re done, establish a sensor network, please. We need to know what steps they’re taking to look for us. Will the nanites being used to hide our ride appreciably affect our ability to make progress on our headquarters?”

“The effort to control them consumes approximately two percent of our capacity. That figure will increase slightly as we move away from the vehicle.”

“Will Matt have sufficient capacity to take over this responsibility after he wakes up?”

“No, Sam. With training, he may be able to control as many as one percent of the number of nanites we can currently control.”

“Is that because of the benefit we get from the excess capacity of the Worldnet?”

“Primarily. It is also related to the innate ability of the pair controlling the nanites as well as the amount of time they have spent doing so. Because you are the first, we started controlling them sooner than any other pair. Because of your decision to activate the Worldnet, we also have more effective time spent controlling them. It would take a pair without these advantages many times as long as it has taken us to do the things we have done and our advantage in that regard continues to grow.”

“Well, it’s just about the only advantage we have, so I’m grateful for it. Okay, Adia, it’s time to stop running. Let’s get started on our last home here for a while. We’re about six hundred feet below the peak, which is a good start, but I’m a belt and suspenders kind of guy. I’d like us to be at least as far in before we build the facilities. Unless you have a better idea, I want to start tunneling here.”

“It will take longer to go that far into the mountain, Sam, and it will displace a great deal of material. Less than half that distance should be sufficient to shield us from all forms of remote detection.”

“I’m done with should. Belt and suspenders, remember? I want to be as close to absolutely sure that we’re beyond remote detection as we possibly can be with what we can create in the next day or so. I’d also like to ensure we’re beyond the range of anything but nuclear bunker busters. I can see the government getting crazy enough to try to blow us out of here. I can’t see them getting crazy enough to use nukes.”

“I understand and share your desire to get our team to safety as soon as possible, but this mountain was formed from a seabed. There are trace elements of what we need to construct additional nanites, but in order to harvest them; we need to process large amounts of this sedimentary material. We can convert much of it to various oxygen compounds that will disperse into the atmosphere, but there will still be substantial waste material that will have to be removed and dispersed over a wide area if we are to avoid detection. It is not possible for us to go as far into the mountain as you would like in the time frame you describe with the number of nanites we can currently control, even if we had that many. You will have to choose between time and distance.”

As he talked with Adia, Sam walked into the fold of mountain he’d been looking for. Shorter than the tree cover in front of it, the deformation of the land formed a 15-foot tall, 25-foot wide, asymmetrical u-shaped vertical depression deep enough to allow Sam to create an entrance on either side of the ‘u’, shallow enough to remain well-lit during the day. It would, Sam hoped, look like nothing but more trees from the front, and a space too small to hide anything meaningful from the air.

“Jim, Esther and Lisa can maintain their camouflage and their sensor net without our help, right?” Sam asked.

“They can, although that will be about all they can do without our help.”

“They aren’t safe there, or anywhere, until we build a place for them to be so. I don’t see a better course of action than providing that place as soon as possible. Am I wrong, Adia?”

“It’s not for me to say, Sam. We’re here to help, if we can. It’s up to you and the rest of humanity to make the right decisions to save yourselves. We will be saved with you, or not.”

“Great. If I recall all of the nanites we control from the cabin, how much can we accomplish by this time tomorrow?”

“Without knowing the exact composition of the material we would excavate or the size of the tunnel and interior structures you wish to build, I can only provide a rough estimate. If we are fortunate in the composition of the material we excavate and you are modest in the size of the facilities you wish to build, we should be able to tunnel 250 to 350 feet into the mountain and complete a habitable facility there by then.”

“Then let’s hope that will be enough. So much for certainty.” Sam faced the left side of the formation. “Let’s start by creating an opening on this side. Since we won’t be transporting much more than people and supplies through it, eight by eight feet should be sufficient. We’ll follow the course of the mountainside for a dozen feet or so and then change the course of the tunnel to head directly into the heart of the mountain.”

Sam watched as the foliage began to dissolve and expose the bare rock below. Less than five minutes later, the tunnel was a foot deep. In other circumstances, he would be filled with wonder. In the current circumstances, he felt little more than apprehension. He knew they were running out of time and felt trapped by his inability to do more.

Hours later, Adia woke Sam from a brief nap just before sunrise with the news that Chang was attempting to contact him. Sam thanked her and connected to Chang. “Morning, Chang. Have you arrived at the meeting point?” Sam had directed Chang to contact him when he arrived at Roy City Park, a tiny park adjacent to a community of fewer than 500 souls twenty-one miles east of Sam’s location.

“Yes, we are here,” Chang answered.

“Did you have any problems?”

“No. I think they still believe I’m at home seeing my wife and resting for the first time since Saturday morning.”

“Did you disguise your car as we discussed?”

“Yes, exactly as you instructed.”

“Good. The next part is going to be tricky.” Sam had worked out a plan with Adia for getting Chang and his wife to his location before resting, but it was not without risk. “There are Predator drones in the air and motorized patrols all over the place. Fortunately, there’s a lot of ground for them to search. Unfortunately, there aren’t many people around here. Any vehicle moving at this time of the morning will draw attention, but our plan stands less chance of success in the daylight so we’re going to execute it now.