Earth Ship Protectress: Book Two in the Freddy Anderson Chronicles (12 page)

“Freddy, can you explain about the ships you mentioned, please?” asked the president.

I looked at the generals and then back to the president. “No, not right now. I’m sorry.”

The two generals looked at each other and then at the admiral. “Freddy, if I vouch for them, would you have a little more trust?” asked the admiral,

Sadly, I answered, “No. Please don’t get me wrong, sir. I would love to trust them, but I don’t. If I was maybe a little more grown up and had more life experience, I could find it easier to forgive and trust, but I’m still a kid, and I don’t have the wisdom that comes with time. The commander helps a lot with my deficiency in this area and tries to keep me from doing things that would upset the president.” I looked at the president and smiled. “I hope it is working.”

She said, “Don’t worry, Freddy. You’re doing great.”

“I am achieving edification from the team, Madam President. Nevertheless, my present project consumes an ardent apportionment of operational opportunity that has—”

“Freddy!”

Startled, I looked at Colleen.

“You’re doing it again. Stop it!”

I blushed, “I’m sorry, Madam President. What I meant to say is that I’m learning a lot from the girls, but my time is being used up, working on this emergency instead of having the benefit of their teaching on a continuous basis. It’s sporadic at best. The commander does a great job, but the circumstances that this emergency is creating have caused both of us to deviate off a most favorable solution to my upbringing.”

The president smiled. “Every once in a while, you let slip with just how intelligent you are.” When I blushed, she said, “That’s not a bad thing, Freddy. Not as long as someone is here to remind you that we may not understand.” She nodded her thanks to Colleen, who nodded back.

I sat in deep thought for a minute, and then I looked at the commander and with a big smile said, “Susan, I’d like to make the admiral a trade.”

“What would that be, Freddy?”

“This is all dependent on what you think of the idea—if you feel we should talk first, or if we should wait until the generals are gone or whatever.”

“Depends on what you want to do.”

“I would like to take you, the president, and Melanie, plus as many of the team as you feel is necessary, with me into the shop. I’ll let you see firsthand what I’ve been working on, and that way you may have a better understanding of the needs we face.”

“In return for what?”

“Two things. First, I want the admiral to help the team in any way you deem necessary, including personnel, equipment, supplies, building materials, Earth communications, logistics for transport, screening, etc. I seem to be running out of easily available funds. I’m still very rich, but I get the payments for my patents on a monthly or yearly basis, and I quickly use up most of that income each month and then have to wait to buy the supplies I need. I don’t want to be indebted to anyone, so this is for free, and the ships are still mine.” I paused for a minute and then burst out laughing.

Everyone was smiling or laughing with me, including the commander. “What’s so funny?” she asked.

“Commander, I just realized what I was saying. As if I would want them back, cluttering up this base. And what about the fact that I need the president to continue supporting my projects? So let’s amend my request. I want insurance that the ships I design will be used to help build a city on the moon, another one on Mars, and eventually will allow us travel to the stars. As long as I am not held back from achieving those goals, then you can use them for anything else you want. Second, I want to learn to trust the generals and the army, which means I need to work with them. To do so, I need someone I can trust to screen their people before they are sent here, where you then can screen them again, Commander. That way, maybe you won’t have them shot on sight. Right now, we don’t much like the army. Sorry, generals. We really need to change that. If we can’t work together, then this job is going to be a lot harder, and my projects will take a lot longer.” I looked over at the generals and said, “Please don’t get me wrong. I’m going to the moon and Mars, and I’m going to land on another planet and breathe air that’s not from Earth. I can do it alone or with help, but I will do it. Susan, Colleen, and the rest of this team have shown me how important it is to have companions I can trust. I would very much prefer going with my friends. Susan, what do you think?”

“I don’t know, Freddy. Let me think about it.” She spoke with such a straight face, yet I could feel the mirth radiating from her. The president’s eyes were popping out with disbelief that Susan would not grab at the chance, and the admiral was about to come out of his chair and read her the riot act. The two team members who were suddenly standing directly behind him put a stop to that idea.

Susan said, “I would love to allow Freddy this opportunity to give us all a tour, but I cannot.”

Everyone started talking at once—the admiral, the generals, everyone except the president, but only because Melanie had a hand on her arm, suggesting that she wait. When things calmed down, Susan continued. “The reason for this is we must wait until Freddy and I have put away any and all things that may give anyone a clue about how he is building those bombs. I will not compromise that technology. When we have done that, then I will be happy to allow you in. I think we should include the generals, though. If we show a little good faith, then possibly they can return the favor.”

Both acknowledged agreement.

The admiral calmed down and asked, “Freddy, how long will it take to clear things up so that we can see the ships?”

“Just a second, Admiral. Shop?”

“
Yes, Freddy. I take it you wish for me to remove from sight all items pertaining to the development and building of missiles and mass-destruction weapons. Is this cor
rect?”

“
Yes, and I would like to remove all hazards that could cause harm to people who have no understanding of the physical nature and properties of robots. Please have two BRGs standing by to escort the generals and GRPs for the rest. I will be there right after dinner with the commander to inspect and make adjustments.”

“
Understood. Everything will be r
eady.”

“
Thank you.”

The admiral was still looking around for the voice.

The commander said, “Sir, the voice won’t come back unless someone with the proper authority calls her. ‘Thank you’ signals that the conversation is over.”

“Interesting. Will there be a computer with that style of input/output on the ships?”

“No, sir,” I responded. “I’d never populate my new ships with old technology.”

Everyone’s eyebrows rose.

General Tankman asked, “Exactly what are BRGs and GRPs?”

“Oh sorry, General. BRG is short for Blue Robot Guard, and GRP is short for Green Robot Protector.”

“What’s the difference between the two?”

“GRP is a nice little energy that follows you around, and helps explain things, and generally keeps you from harming yourself by giving passive warnings.”

“And the BRG?”

“The Blue Robot Guard is an active system. I haven’t gotten all the bugs out of it yet, but it’s supposed to watch you, and if it sees you doing something that you shouldn’t, it disintegrates you and tells me later, when I’m not busy. Susan, we should be able to check the shop, and then sometime tomorrow morning we can give the tour.”

The generals’ eyes were the size of plates. I ignored them. I looked over at the president. “Madam President, can you stay for a tour tomorrow?”

“I would be honored.”

“One other thing—sometime soon the knowledge of that rock is going to be leaked. Then what? I don’t want visitors who are a hindrance to my progress. No reporters without the commander giving the clearance for who, where, and when.”

“Freddy, you’re in my territory again,” Susan reminded me. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle everything.”

I looked at Susan. “I just want to make it clear not to tell anyone that the solution is coming from here. I’d like to keep that a secret until we launch. It would be a shame if some fanatic group decided to try to stop us for some off-the-wall reason. The last thing I want is to have to attend funerals just before lifting off. Next question. Susan, the girls who are training with the shuttle mockup—where are they in terms of scenarios?”

Marian answered, “We’re at number forty-nine. Been there for two days now.”

“Really? What’s the problem?”

“We’ve had some dogfights in other scenarios, but we were not expecting to have to do battle with a huge ship. Isn’t this just a little ridiculous? The girls are starting to think you don’t want them to pass.”

“Really? Shop?”

“
Yes, Fr
eddy?”

“
When was the last scan of the solar system completed?”

“
Two hours and sixteen minutes
ago.”

“
Please give me an update on traffic, other than known satellites.”

“
There are eight small-class ships taxiing in and out of the system. Five have visited the ship based deep in the Pacific Ocean. One medium-sized ship, thought to be a supply ship, has left high orbit. No other traffic noticed. I have compiled the known information of activities and believe that I now understand what is happening with the increased traffic. The base ship is preparing to l
eave.”

“
Thank you. So our benefactors are leaving. I would bet they know exactly what’s coming. What I don’t know is if they made it happen or if they simply can’t stop it. Either way, they’re leaving before things get bad. I do not want to believe that they’re responsible for this problem. I know for a fact that they have saved our planet several times. At least, all signs point to them. However, I don’t want to take the chance. When we let the world know about my project, they’ll know too. Therefore, we hold off as long as possible. When we launch, they will know, and they will have the ability to try to stop us, but I’m not launching until we can protect ourselves. That’ll be in about four months. At that time, I will be able to protect this base from anything, and then we’re going for a test ride. I want to see if my systems work as they should.”

Everyone was staring at me except the president and the admiral; they were looking guilty.

“I can feel your emotions. You both knew.”

“We do have a craft that was disabled,” said the admiral.

“The craft you have at Area 51 is not theirs, Admiral. You have other information, and if you found the rock, then you must have picked up on the traffic.”

“That’s correct,” said the president. “We simply had no idea what to do about it. That was one of the things we needed to talk to you about, but when we first reached this base, we had no idea that you even knew.”

“Let alone that you were already working on the solution,” added the admiral.

“You know we’re going to have to address this issue, as it’s not long now before we have first contact. Another thing—my ships are faster than theirs, they don’t have shields, and my lasers are faster, as mine require no recharge.” I turned to Marian and asked, “Are you using the shields?”

“Actually, no. We weren’t sure if we could fire with them up.”

“Did you see the button that toggles between ‘one direction’ and ‘two direction’ on the shield console?”

“Yes.”

“It’s in the two-direction position, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“The two-direction position is normal and shields both directions, in and out.”

“And the one-direction position keeps things out but not in,” she said. “Darn. We could use your help with a few issues sometime soon. I’ll bet there are a dozen other things that we don’t understand.”

“You’ll have that help as soon as you get to scenario fifty-one. By then, you’ll have the simplest basics out of the way, and we can work on the really tough things together.” I added with a mysterious smile, “I hope that at least one of you is very good at three-dimensional strategies. It’d be no fun if we died over and over.” I stood up and raised my glass. “To the salvation of our world, the trust of good friends, and the love of the human race. Shields up.”

We clinked glasses and drank; mine was milk. We finished dinner with just small talk and some unessential questions. After dinner, the commander and I went to the shop.

Yellows smiled. “So the pending disaster was a meteor.”

Everything went blank—they think. Number-one rule of all life: if you can’t change the circumstances, then adapt or perish.

Green said, “No meteor showed up on our scans of their system or surrounding system.”

Blue said, “It quoted four of it months. How long would that be?”

Green thought for a second. “About eighteen of our days.”

“That’s strange,” said Gray. “Our mother ship should have been near their system by then. We received no reports of any meteors that would affect them.”

Yellows said, “Maybe the mother ship was not looking.”

Green said, “If he has world-destroying missiles, why did he not use them on our fleet?”