Weapons of War (26 page)

She stood and faced him. "Sir, Guy and Reza asked me to be here to liaise with you."

Theodore's brow creased. "How do you mean?"

She smiled. "They're onto something sir, the two of them. They have a new theory regarding slipspace, based on the ideas we've come up with on the Dread technology. They asked me to be here when you arrived, to keep you updated on their progress."

"I see. In that case, Mrs. Larone, update me."

"Yes, sir. Can we go to the conference room? I have a sim I can show you."

"Of course. "Major St. Martin, can you please attend? You too, Colonel. Sergeant Abdullah, you have the bridge. Don't let Maggie do anything I wouldn't do."

"Yes, sir," Abdullah said, standing to take the command chair.

Gabriel retreated to the rear of the bridge to stand beside Theodore as he swung himself easily into his chair. He was still amazed at how much stronger and healthier his father looked, though he did notice a wince as Theodore settled himself in his seat. How much pain was the General masking?

They crossed the corridor into the conference room, the four of them sitting in a semi-circle around the end. Sarah withdrew her tablet and placed it on the table. It projected the Dread rifle in front of them.
 

"As you know, we had to bring the rifle back down to the lab after Reza began disassembling it. Once we started opening it up, we realized what a poor job our scanners did in picking up some of the components."

"Because they're organic in nature," Theodore said.

Sarah seemed surprised. "You spoke to Guy already?"

"Yesterday. It seems like you have more for me today."

"Yes, sir. As you said, we discovered that some of the internals are made of organic compounds. Some further studies I've done have proven that these compounds are basic in nature, but by our standards, they can be considered living organisms."

"You're saying the gun is alive?" Gabriel asked.
 

"Yes, Major. In a sense. The organisms are fueled by the same electrical supply that powers the weapon. They take the energy and excrete trace elements of waste that we believe get burned off when the weapon is fired. That's not too important in itself. We believe the Dread have found a way to use organic compounds to replace common minerals used by humans. Copper, for example. It is likely they didn't have these minerals on their homeworld, and so their technology emerged differently than ours."

"But it isn't related to how the weapon functions overall?" Choi asked.

"We don't believe so."

"How does the weapon work, Mrs. Larone?" Theodore asked.

She waved her hand over the projection, pulling it apart the way Reza had done earlier. Except now there were at least three dozen more parts.

"There are two parts to this equation, General," Sarah said. "The first is the weapon itself, able to pierce the Dread armor. The second is the armor, able to deflect pretty much anything without taking noticeable damage."

"Sounds about right."

Sarah manipulated the weapon, turning it so that the center was right in front of them. She pushed the rest of it aside, leaving what appeared to be a simple, rippled ring in the view.
 

"We're calling this a phase modulator. This is the visible part of it, but once we took the weapon part we were able to examine it under magnification." She reached for a piece of the image and blew it up, expanding it until a web of circuitry became visible. "Everything here is nano-scale. There are almost two billion of what we're calling 'phase points' embedded into the ring. Each phase point is connected to a small node that we think is a controller that manages the point."

"I'm an old gator, Mrs. Larone," Theodore said. "Keep the next part simple for me."

"Essentially, when the weapon is triggered and the phase modulator is engaged, it puts whatever passes through it into what Guy is calling a quantum vortex." She paused, the excitement of her next statement clear on her face. "His new theory is that it phases the plasma through another dimension of spacetime. One that humankind hasn't discovered yet."

"A third dimension?" Choi said.
 

"Yes," she replied, almost giggling. "One with properties we don't completely understand. What we do know is that it allows the plasma to pass through the enemies' shielding. We believe that the enemy shields may also be utilizing this dark energy as part of their function. Guy and Reza are exploring that concept right now."

"How is that possible?" Gabriel said. "I mean, slipspace is composed of ripples in space and time. This other dimension is composed of what?"

"Matter and energy. Like realspace, but different. Reza thinks this new dimension may be the source of dark matter. In fact, he's taken to calling it darkspace. His idea is that it leaks through into our space because darkspace is so dense that it can't contain it."

"The majority of the universe is made up of dark matter," Choi said.

"Yes, Colonel. If he's right, we may have found a clue to the origin of our universe itself."

"For all we know, the Dread already understand the origin of the universe," Gabriel said.

"It is possible," Sarah agreed.

"You got all that from looking at the gun under a microscope?" Theodore asked.

"No, sir. To be honest, it's all theoretical, based on one observable calculation. Reza isolated one of the phase points and was able to trigger it. It broke our sensors, but not before he was able to take measurements."

"What do you mean, broke?"

"They were too close to it, I guess. Without being inside the weapon's shielding, it caused a small electromagnetic pulse that killed the equipment."

Theodore smiled. "You're saying you could have shorted out the entire ship and killed every last one of us?"

Sarah's face turned red. "Uh. I suppose I am, sir."

"Ha! Wouldn't that have been a real kick in the pants?"

"I don't understand," Gabriel said. "If this isn't related to slipspace, why are the Dread ships vulnerable in slipspace dead zones?"

"It is related to slipspace," Sarah said. "Directly related. Think of it like a ligament holding muscle to bone. Darkspace is a thin layer that sits between realspace and slipspace. In fact, it's quite possible that we pass through it every time we slip, it's just that it's so narrow that our equipment can't detect it. In fact, we think the slipspace dead zones aren't caused by a lack of waves, but a detachment between darkspace and slipspace within them."

Gabriel waved his hands in the air. "You're saying it's the stuff that holds all of this together?"
 

"It may be, Major. We also now think the reason that slipspace is black instead of white is because the density of darkspace is keeping the light in realspace from penetrating through."

Theodore whistled. "Mrs. Larone, I have to say that you and your husband and Reza have done fantastic work here. Simply fantastic. I'm happy to hear we may be breaking new ground on our understanding of the universe, and I hate to spoil the fun, but what does it mean for us today? We've still got a Dread fortress on our tail, and they ain't going to stay back there forever."

"Ah, General," Guy said, looking up as Theodore entered the makeshift lab with Gabriel, Sarah, and Colonel Choi. He was hunched over his tablet, his hair messy and his eyes red from lack of sleep. "I assume you spoke to Sarah." He stumbled to his feet.

"That's why we're here, Mr. Larone," Theodore said. "She gave me the rundown on this so-called darkspace. Where is Mr. Mokri?"

"He went to retrieve some of the phase paint from inventory," Guy said. "We were about to test my theory."

"Which one?" Theodore asked. "You seem to have come up with a whole barrel of them."

"It's amazing what you can do with the right motivation, and with a little push from alien technology. I haven't been this excited about anything since I met Sarah." He looked at her. "You're still more exciting, darling."

She blushed and smiled in response, acting demure. Gabriel didn't know what the current situation was between the three scientists, and he didn't care. At least they were working together on the problem.

Reza approached behind them, holding a container of the paint.
 

"Oh. Uh. General." He put the paint on the floor and saluted. "Sir. You're just in time to see if we're onto something."

"I hope for all our sakes you are, Mr. Mokri," Theodore replied.

"Yes, sir." He picked up the paint and carried it across the lab.
 

They had taken root in a large space deep inside the Magellan. They had moved a ton of equipment from its original place on the ship into a corner of it, along with a simple workbench and stools, tablets and projectors. It was an organized chaos of tools and devices that Gabriel didn't recognize or understand the purpose for.

Reza walked to the far end of the space, a hundred meters distant from them. He lifted the paint container and began spraying it against the inner bulkhead. It dried nearly instantly, leaving a dark, uneven film across the area.
 

He came back to them. A battery was resting in a cart nearby, attached to his tablet and connected to the Dread rifle, which was protruding a thick wire. He grabbed it and began pushing it toward the painted wall.

"Mr. Mokri," Theodore said. "Would you mind telling me what you're doing? We don't have much of that paint as it is, and last I heard we needed it to repair the nacelle."

"We would have to be able to get someone outside to repair the nacelle, sir," Reza said. "Which we can't do as long as they're vulnerable to attack."

"Gabriel can keep the Dread away from the repair team."

"Maybe. Maybe not. You may not have to take that risk if our theory holds up."

"My theory," Guy said.

"Whatever," Reza replied. He kept walking back to the paint, kneeling beside it and rigging the wire against the surface of it. "The paint is conductive," he shouted back, his voice echoing in the chamber. "In simple terms, the quantum phase generators pass energy into it in a defined frequency, which causes the nanoparticles within the material to accelerate and spin. The spin creates a bond between the material here and sibling particles in slipspace, which drags the Magellan out of this spacetime and into that one. These particles travel through slipspace in various densities, always moving and spinning. It is these densities that make up the waves. When we create a strong enough bond, we join the wave, and move from our space into that one."

"I'm a soldier, not a scientist. I'll take your word for it, son," Theodore said.

"Uh. Right. Anyway, the theory-"

"My theory," Guy said again, interrupting. "Is that we can use the phase modulator on the Dread rifle to alter the spin of the particles, so that instead of pushing us toward slipspace, we pull slipspace to us."

"And how is that going to help?"

"My dearest Sarah explained the concept of Laronespace to you?"

"Darkspace," Reza said.

Guy looked back at him.
 

"Darkspace," Theodore said, confirming Reza's naming. "Yes, she did. Go on."

"To pull slipspace to us, we have to lift Laronespace with it. How do I explain simply?" He paused, considering. "You were born on Earth before the invasion, so you'll understand this simile. It is like swimming instead of sinking. We want to skim the surface, to bring the Magellan into phase with Laronespace instead of slipspace. But, as you know, it's a lot easier to sink than swim."

"Not if you just relax and let yourself float," Theodore said.
 

Guy paused. "Not exactly like swimming, then."

"You said darkspace is dense," Gabriel said. "Wouldn't that make it easier to sit on top of it, not harder?"

Guy's face tightened. "I'm trying to put things in layman's terms so that you all understand. Density is a relative analogous synonym, in this case. I can show you the calculation that describes the properties we have theorized, but that will be even less meaningful to you.

Gabriel opened his mouth to reply. Theodore interrupted him. "I get the point, Mr. Larone. What exactly are you preparing to do?"

"We've been skirting the edge of the dead zone for the last two days. We're going to cross a short break in it in about a minute. Ten seconds at most, but that's all the time we need."

"Mmm. What exactly are you going to do?" Theodore asked again.

"You might want to roll back, General," Sarah said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "We aren't completely sure about the results."

"Are you telling me you're putting my ship at risk again?" Theodore barked.

"No risk, no reward, General," Guy said. "My calculations are good. Sarah checked them. So did Reza. Besides, I don't think it will damage the ship if it doesn't work."

"Let's hope not."

Guy watched his tablet as the seconds passed. Gabriel, Theodore, and Colonel Choi stood behind them, waiting to see what they were going to do. Gabriel glanced down at his father at the same time Theodore looked up at him. His face hopeful and doubting. This was the culmination of the effort Major Peters and his team had made to get the weapon to them in the first place. It was what Soon had sacrificed himself for. What so many had sacrificed themselves for.