Aliens Vs. Humans (Aliens Series Book 4) (23 page)

Well, that explained why things now existed the way they did. And how the Doomat system passed from Megurk to Rizen control. “Well, myself, I’m kinda glad these Megurk are Isolated!”

“Just so,” Hideyoshi said from the opposite end of the table. His thinning black hair had receded even further since the last time Jack had seen him in person. Why didn’t the man make use of gene therapy to replace the lost hair? Or was there some Japanese cultural reason for going bald on top? “So. We have answered two issues. The Doomat now have weaponed ships and their senior male captains are ready to defend this system. And we know why the Megurk Hunters were Isolated.” The man paused, then held up a hand, one finger raised. “However, I am more interested in Doomat Tech knowledge. So far, humanity has gained the X-ray Petal Shield from the BooMak, the MagPulse Bomb from the Niktoren and the ability to create Dark Matter from the Melagun. Chief Astronomer Nikola, have your research talks with the Doomat Sky Watch sisters produced any science of interest?”

Nikola rested both brown arms on the table as she leaned forward. She gave them all an easy smile. “Yes, Admiral Hideyoshi, the Sky Watch sisters and their allied researchers have developed stuff we can use. Their engineers have a memory alloy that is more flexible and has greater ability to return to shape than the nickel, titanium and copper alloy developed early this century by Professor Manfred Wuttig. Their memory alloy will surely replace the alloys we now use in our high and low temp pumps, and in the medical devices we implant.” She paused, looked around the table, then gestured at the rear wallscreen. “Second, they have outstanding virus fabricators. Similar to the kind America developed early this century that everyone now uses in their Mech Shops to construct repair parts from a soup of minerals. Only the Doomat fabricators can operate in vacuum. That red station was entirely built by virus fabricators. All the Doomat had to do was to feed them a steady diet of steel, titanium, copper, molybdenum, rare earths and similar stuff.” She frowned. “Which makes the Rizen insistence on dangerous vacsuit mining in the Rock Fields asteroid belt an even greater stupidity.”

Jack held up a hand. “Nikola, thank you for your science research efforts with the Sky Watch sisters. Were they able to share neutron star and black hole info with you? Those are your lifelong research interests.”

His lifemate gave him her Woman Superior look. Though her pale blue eyes sparkled with humor. “Of course they did. I shared my work with them, along with the research work of Nalik of the Nasen. As Admiral Hideyoshi has noted, combining the sciences of multiple civilizations does result in advances for humanity.”

“Quite so.” Jack looked around the table. Everyone was attentive but relaxed. Many were enjoying Europa Light Ale beers brought to them by the AutoChef attendant. Ignacio was holding hands with Elaine, while Júlia and Kasun seemed quite amiable in how they sat next to each other. Akemi and Minna, the two deadliest women next to Maureen, both resembled hawks ready to swoop down on prey. Meanwhile, Gareth was showing Aashman something on his datapad. “People! As Hideyoshi noted we have solved two issues. But the biggest issue remains. How the fuck do we collapse an Isolation Globe? Or penetrate the Alcubierre shield of the Arbitor ship?” He sat back and grinned. “Well, I think I’ve figured out a solution to both.”

“What!” cried Archibald, his rad-tanned face looking shocked. The man peered at him intently. “Captain Jack, explain! Uh, please.”

Once a professor, always a professor. He forgave the man for being so abrupt. “Well, the explosion of our Lander when it hit the Megurk system Isolation Globe shell made me wonder. What if we take a really big ship, like one of the Mars destroyers, automate it to go Alcubierre FTL with suitable programming, and aim it at the Isolation Globe? Better yet, why not aim it at the Arbitor ship the next time we encounter it? Since the collision of two Alcubierre space-time bubbles causes one of them to explode, perhaps by engine overload, maybe we can overload the shield of the Arbitor ship. Or even the Isolation Globe itself!”

Archibald’s expression went from surprise to thoughtfulness. The ruddy-haired man glanced to Max. “You want to explain?”

What the?
Jack had thought Max had something he was eager to share, but had assumed it related to his and Blodwen’s romance. Not so, apparently. “Buddy, explain what?”

Max crossed muscular arms over his flat belly. He hummed low, then gave Jack an eager smile. “Boss, your idea is something Archibald and I discussed during our trip from Megurk to here. As you noted, it seems like an obvious answer. An answer nobody ever knew about cause most folks do not go around crashing FTL ships into each other. But.” His stocky, black-haired buddy gave a nod to Archibald, then fixed back on Jack. “ But the problem is
power
. Power to the Alcubierre space-time globe is what matters. The Megurk Isolation Globe is likely powered by Dark Energy passing through the Isolation Globe device put next to its sun by the Arbitor ship some 300 years ago. No amount of fusion reactors can equal the power going into that globe. Which means your automated destroyer would blow up just like the Lander.”

He liked his idea and was not about to give up. “Well, what if somehow we built a solar system size Alcubierre space-time globe and aimed it at the Megurk globe. Wouldn’t that collapse it?”

Max looked to Archibald. “Your turn.”

The Brit professor gave a nod to Max, then fixed on Jack. “Captain, you would need access to Dark Energy to power such a giant FTL ship globe. But even if you did, and such a giant ship globe hit the Megurk Isolation Globe and collapsed it, that would be a disaster.” The man gave a sigh. He gestured at the rear wall image of Green Grass. “Every planet in the Megurk system, perhaps everything solid, would likely blow up from the massive energies directed inward by such a collapse. There’s a chance the Megurk star itself would go nova. So. Even if you could collapse the Isolation Globe this way, you would have only flaming embers left to visit. If that.”

Shit!
Jack wanted badly to find a way to defeat this Isolation Globe. But not at the cost of species genocide. While he had killed two billion HikHikSot by pushing moon fragments onto one of the two inhabited planets of their system, he’d left the second world alone. Even that gesture of restraint had left him feeling bad as he watched HikHikSot rescue ships trying madly to evacuate their people from the doomed world to their other home world. He frowned at Archibald, then turned to Max. “So there is no way to defeat such a globe? But couldn’t an automated destroyer in FTL zap the shield around the Arbitor ship?”

His buddy nodded yes slowly. “That might be possible. Though if the Arbitor ship’s protection field is also powered by Dark Energy, then your destroyer might just blow up. If it was strong enough to overpower the protective shield, then the Arbitor ship would blow up.”

Jack grimaced. “You two seem to have anticipated my Big Answer. Which now has fatal holes in it. Do you folks have a better answer?”

Max smiled widely. “We do! That’s why Archie and I were looking forward to this meeting. We think we have an answer.”

The man did not continue. This was frustrating. “Yes? Who the fuck is going to tell me about this mystery answer of yours!”

Max gestured to Archibald. Who seemed to be enjoying Jack’s frustration. “Captain Jack, of course you are tops at space combat and Alien negotiations. But Max and I, we’ve spent our lives studying subatomic physics, quantum mechanics and high-energy particle collisions. Max of course did it on the applied level.”

Jack thumped the stone table with his knuckles. “Understood. Somebody come out with it!”

Briefly Archibald looked hurt. Then his love of particle physics overwhelmed him. “It’s simple, really. Like the universe itself. In short, if the Isolation Globe is really powered by Dark Energy as we think it has to be in order to last for millennia, then we just need to produce our own Dark Energy. Which we then aim at the center of the globe so we can, hopefully, overload the Isolation Globe device that is sucking on the DE that is constantly filling the universe and causing it to expand. If we can overload the device, it dies, the Isolation Globe collapses, no planet is harmed and access to the system is restored.”

Amazement hit him. There was a wild kind of logic to Archie’s solution. “So how do we produce our own Dark Energy. Or the DE as you called it.”

Archie nodded to Max. Who now seemed to glow under the admiring eyes of Blodwen. “Jack, well, we need to head back to Sol system. Then we go to Vesta and convince Archie’s lady friend Agnes to let us dismantle her particle accelerator. Recall it has been modified to produce Dark Matter for the creation of our own grav-pull drives, through making our own Thorne Exotic Matter globes?” Across the table Archibald had flushed red at the mention of Agnes Cumberland of the New Physics Research Institute on Vesta. Max winked at the Brit. “Well, you see, Archie and I figure that if we can disassemble the Vesta accelerator, then wrap it around the hull of one of Hideyoshi’s destroyers, and power it with the third fusion reactor on the destroyer, well, we could accelerate Dark Matter to near lightspeed and thereby produce Dark Energy. You know, it’s an updated version of the old E=MC² of Professor Einstein.”

Jack felt amazed again. There was a masterful logic to the solution proposed by his two physics geniuses. If they really could accelerate Dark Matter to near the speed of light, then it should convert to Dark Energy. “Great. But how do we avoid blowing up the destroyer? Recall last century’s first efforts with hydrogen fusion? We now call them thermonukes. You want us to somehow fuse Dark Matter so it puts out Dark Energy. Nice idea. But it sounds really dangerous to me.”

Max waved a hand nonchalantly. “Details, details. Our theory and equations say it will work. Making it happen is just engineering. Hey, Archie and I, we figured out how to replicate the Alcubierre FTL pedestal we salvaged off the Rizen hulk, didn’t we? We can figure out this Dark Energy projector.”

Jack hoped so. He really really wanted to defy the absolute rules of the Arbitors. While he accepted that all cultures needed basic rules for those societies to operate, he had always admired his Grandpa’s Can-Do attitude. Something the man said most Americans of the past had accepted as a natural part of old America. Before the Communitarians took over and insisted on everyone being the same, despite obvious differences in ability among some people. Those folks who defied the Cooperative Consensus of the Communitarian Unity had fled out to the Asteroid Belt to build there a new American commonwealth. Which now included allies from the Moon and Mars. He looked to the man whose help would be vital to achieving the vision of Max and Archie. “Admiral Hideyoshi, think you could find a destroyer for these guys to play with? And crew willing to serve alongside two math lunatics?”

The older man, long an examplar of military professionalism, gave Jack a restrained smile. “Perhaps. Our destroyers
Zhukov
and
MacArthur
already have Higgs Disruptors installed on them. Which requires all power produced by the ship’s third fusion reactor. So they are not available. That leaves the
Nimitz
and the
Yamamoto
. Neither of them have Higgs Disruptors installed yet. I think. We’ll know for sure when we get home.”

Jack folded his palms together in classical Japanese greeting manner. “Admiral, please accept my appreciation for your willingness to offer one of Mars’ destroyers to this great cause. I promise you I will insist these super-brains leave it intact! After we collapse the Megurk globe and collapse the Arbitor shield, I hope to return the accelerator to Dr. Cumberland.”

“She would appreciate that,” Maureen muttered loudly. “The woman is an old friend of mine. While your Archibald may have sweetened her disposition with his sharing of the Melagun equations on how to create Dark Matter, I doubt she will like the idea of her ‘baby’ being dismantled and put around a blimp of a spaceship!”

Jack understood her point. He too would object to the
Uhuru
being turned into a mobile particle accelerator with a chance of blowing up if stuff didn’t combine just right. But his two geniuses had a better answer than his FTL collision scheme. And if it worked, he looked forward to contacting a juvenile system, calling on the Arbitor MakMakGor and taunting him to come to Sol for a final confrontation out at Sedna comet. Looking around, he noticed the bottles of booze were mostly empty. Time for steaks! He turned to the attendant standing beside the AutoChef, eager for the taste of broiled Angus steak.

“Admiral Hideyoshi,” called Cassie. “Before we leave this system for home, can I visit with your Lieutenant Andy Mabry? Of your Mars Marines? I want to share with him some portable translator coms. Made by Denise. The com tabs will let your marines understand whatever any Alien enemy is saying. Or broadcasting. Based on a signal back to the AI aboard your
Bismarck
or our
Uhuru
.”

Jack turned away from the attendant with a sigh. He could wait a few minutes for his steak. What intrigued him was the assertive manner of Cassie. During their four months on Mathilde, she had dated nine young men, all of them natives of the asteroid or the Belt. When had she developed this sudden interest in Lt. Mabry? Or had it always been there since the man had led the Marine unit that helped rescue her from captivity in the ship hangar of the South Pole Naval Station? Hideyoshi must have wondered the same thing as Jack saw a quick smile pass over the man’s normally bland features.