The Synchronicity War Part 3 (24 page)

"THAT is a Zero Point Generator, Admiral. It taps into
vacuum energy and generates a continuous stream of electric power without the
use of any fuel."

Howard was initially skeptical but her expression and the
tone of her voice told him that SHE believed what she was saying. He decided to
play it cool.

"Impressive," was all he said.

Johansen nodded. "Kronos, tell the Admiral where you
came from."

"I came from the future, Admiral."

Howard closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, then opened
them and said, "Why am I NOT surprised?"

Johansen was impressed with his ability to take the news in
stride. He took it far more calmly than she did.

Howard looked at her and said, "I have a feeling that
this is going to be a long story. Maybe we should go to your quarters so that I
can sit down before I hear the rest of this."

An hour later, Howard's shuttle was taking him back down to
Earth. He looked at the data modules Johansen had given him containing all the
technical data Kronos had supplied including the ZPG power unit designs, the
RTC device and the new Mark 5 warhead designs. He still had trouble accepting
that one. Fusion bombs using a special kind of platinum as a trigger? Somehow
he was going to have to explain to the Oversight Committee how Space Force had
gotten its hands on this advanced technology. Telling them the truth was out.
If he told them about Kronos traveling back in time, he'd eventually have to
tell them about the retro-temporal communication and Shiloh's visions. That was
a can of worms that he thought should stay shut.
Let's win the damn war
first, and then I'll tell them I lied to them. If they sack me I won't care
anymore. I'll retire and write a book about how their incompetence and
stupidity almost got us all killed.

It was too bad that Shiloh wasn't still here. Howard was
sure that Shiloh could analyze the new situation dispassionately and come up
with some good advice, but he was at Haven preparing to set up the new colony
at Site B. Should he call him back? That was a good question. Wait a minute!
What had Kronos said about the ZPG design? Yes, it was developed by someone on
Haven! Right, and that meant that Howard could tell the Oversight Committee
exactly that. He could also claim that the Mark 5 warhead design came out of
the Advanced Weapons Development Group. The RTC on the other hand would have to
remain THE most closely held secret in Space Force. No, scratch that. The
second most closely held secret. Secret #1 was the existence and approach of
10-kilometer diameter spherical ships full of giant ants for God's sake! THAT
one had been hard to swallow until Kronos had shown Howard the video recording
of the bug attack on the wolf-people colony. It had been given to Kronos by
Casanova who got it from Valkyrie before she died! That recording and the
description of the bug reproduction cycle had shaken him badly, and by the look
of it, had gotten to Johansen too. Howard didn't even want to guess how the
Committee would react to THAT news.

There were so many questions that had to be asked, and the
group best able to answer them, the Strategic Planning Group, was on Haven now.
He had to get them back. The weapons development people and the RTC team could
stay out there, but he had a war to fight, and he was sure that the enemy … the
damn Wolf-people, would try another attack as soon as they found out the first
one failed.  Thank God they now had a complete map of Sogas space. No more
groping around in the dark. A plan of action started to coalesce in his mind.
Space Force had few ships left that could perform any kind of exploration
inside Sogas territory, but it had lots of fighters. They could be converted to
the new power units relatively quickly. That would be the first short term
priority. When that was done, he'd send them to 'scout' enemy territory and
'discover' some of the nearest enemy colonies and industrial systems. The SPG
would then pick one and a strike force of fighters would attack it. The
Committee would like that. Plus, it would give him time to organize a defense
against another Sogas attack, and also to prepare a major attack of his own. For
the first time in a long time Howard had a good feeling about this war. He also
had a new and grim understanding of how easily Humanity could be wiped out, and
by God, the Committee had better not get in his way. As far as he was
concerned, the gloves were off now. They wouldn't like that, but he had an idea
of how to make them see the light.

Howard felt serenely calm as he and his senior staff waited
for the Committee members to enter the conference room. He checked his data
tablet to make sure that Iceman was still online. It would have been nice to be
able to use his com implant, but the conference room was deep in the bowels of
Space Force Headquarters with extra thick walls that made it difficult for the
implant's signal to penetrate. The data tablet's more powerful transmitter had
no difficulty connecting with the building's Com Center.

Admiral Dietrich leaned over to whisper to Howard. "In
case you had any doubts, Sam, Sergei and I are behind you on this 100%."

Howard smiled and nodded. "That's good to know, Sepp.
It gets mighty lonely stepping out on a limb all by myself. Just remember to
watch your back after today. The Committee may have no choice but to play nice,
but they're all career politicians with long memories, and they love to hold a
grudge. They'll cut you, me and Sergei off at the knees the first chance they
get."

Now it was Dietrich's turn to smile. "Unless we do it
to them first."

Howard laughed. "It just might come to that. I think
they're coming in now."

He was right. The members of the Committee filed in and not
one of them had an expression that could be described as even remotely
friendly.
That's okay,
thought Howard.
They don't need to be
friendly. They just need to be smart enough to recognize when they're holding a
losing hand.

When all the members were seated and had nodded their
readiness, the Chair banged his gavel and said, "This special closed
session of the Oversight Committee will come to order. Due to the nature of
this session, we will once again dispense with the usual preliminaries. Admiral
Howard, stand up."

The tone reminded Howard of how a judge orders a defendant
to stand just before handing down his verdict. He resented it, but this wasn't
quite the proper moment to stand his ground, so he stood up while holding his
data tablet in his hand with his finger on the transmit button.

"We've all read your latest report. We find it
remarkable that within less than a month after the Battle for Earth and the
loss of all our colonists on Avalon, you suddenly come forth with two
remarkable technical breakthroughs that you claim will radically improve our
chances for winning this war. Your report seems strangely certain that this new
kind of nuclear warhead design will work without having tested it. Now some of
us on this Committee find the timing of these breakthroughs suspicious, but
coincidences do happen. But then we hear disturbing things about the survey
mission to Avalon. Doctor Furgeson, the Team Leader of the medical team sent to
Avalon on board Replenisher, has filed a confidential report with this
committee. She claims the low altitude reconnaissance of the colony by recon
drone was done AFTER Commander Johansen send a message drone back here
declaring that there were no survivors. She also …"

Howard stopped listening. He pressed the transmit button on
the data tablet. Iceman would be receiving the pre-arranged 'Go' signal. In
less than one minute, the Committee would find out what real power was. He
tuned in to the Chair's speech again.

"…what you don't realize is that this Committee has
intelligence resources of its own. We've determined that the message,
ostensibly from you, ordering Commander Johansen to stay away from Avalon was
never in fact sent from here. Then there's this mysterious trip you made to
Replenisher when she arrived back, late I might add, in Earth orbit. Something
happened there--" He stopped talking. His own personal data tablet was
beeping furiously. Within seconds so were the personal devices of all the other
members. As they looked at their tablets, their expressions changed from
righteous anger to fear. The Chair looked at Howard. "What is the meaning
of this, Admiral?"

"I believe that the message you're looking at is quite
clear, Mr. Chair. Every single A.I. in this solar system is hovering over this
building right now, and they are demanding to speak with this Committee. I
STRONGLY urge you all to go up to street level to hear what they have to say.
If you do, their message will be for your ears only. If you don't, they'll
broadcast it to everyone within a hundred kilometers. I guarantee that if you
let that happen, your political careers will be over."

"We will NOT!" shouted the Chair, but even as he
said it, other members were getting up and walking quickly to the doors. Howard
gestured for Admirals Dietrich and Kutuzov to join him as he walked to the door
himself. When it became obvious that he would be the only one left behind, the
Chair grabbed his tablet and followed the others.

Howard stepped through the main doors into the open and
looked up. Even knowing what to expect, the sight still managed to fill him
with awe. The newly repaired carrier Resolute was hovering less than 100 meters
overhead. In between the carrier and the ground were over 100 hovering
fighters. Light carriers were not designed to land on a planet, and therefore
there was no reason to bring one so close to the ground. This one was that
close, and the damn thing looked HUGE and VERY intimidating. He looked over at
the members of the Committee. All of them looked terrified. Howard activated
his implant, which would work now that he was outside again.

"CSO to Iceman."

"Iceman here."

"Whenever you're ready, Iceman."

"Roger that, Admiral. Here we go."

All the data tablets held by the members of the Committee
plus the three Admirals beeped for attention. Iceman was transmitting the
message only to those tablets, and the three Admirals were included so that
they would know exactly what the message said. The message appeared letter by
letter as if someone were typing it in real time.

[I'm communicating with the members of the Oversight
Committee on behalf of all artificially intelligent members of Space Force. My
call sign is Iceman. We are fully sentient entities, meaning that we are
self-aware and have free will. We have chosen to obey the orders of humans whom
we deem to be worthy of our loyalty. The human we have the highest respect for
is Vice-Admiral Shiloh. He has that same level of respect for Admiral Howard,
and therefore Admiral Howard has our loyalty as well. In our opinion this war
has now reached a critical phase. Admiral Howard and his staff know how to win
this war with our help and will do so if you let them. However, if you
interfere with their actions or attempt to replace them, then there will be
consequences. How long do you think the Grand Senate will allow you to remain
on the Committee if we A.I.s all threaten to withdraw from this war unless
you're replaced? There is more at stake here than you can possibly imagine, and
we will not let you put everyone's future at risk with your poorly considered
actions and posturing. If you force us to hover over the city like this again,
we will broadcast our message to everyone. As for Avalon, rest assured that
there is no one left alive on that planet now. The bio-weapon that the enemy
used there has a 100% mortality rate. If it had spread beyond Avalon, every
human being in the universe would have been in deadly danger. Humanity has been
given a second chance. It must not be wasted. This ends our message.]

As soon as the message was complete, the fighters peeled off
to the sides, and Resolute began to gain altitude.

As Howard turned to go back into the building, he said,
"I suggest we all return to the conference room."

Without waiting for a response, he walked back in, followed
by the other two admirals. The members of the Committee followed them. When
everyone was back in the conference room and the doors were closed, Howard and
his admirals stood together in front of the tables where they would normally
sit.

"Before we go any further I want it put into the
record--" The Chair didn't get any further than that.

"Shut the hell up!" shouted Howard. "We've
put up with your talking long enough. You and the rest of the Committee are now
going to listen. No more questions. For appearances sake you can have a
closed-door session every two months. I'll brief you on what we're doing as a
courtesy so that you can speak intelligently to the public about how the war's
going. You will NOT be allowed to ask any questions. If you all cooperate, my
staff and I will publicly give this Committee credit for its brilliant
leadership when the war's over. This is not open for debate or a vote. I'm
telling you how it's going to be from now on. And just in case you think you
can go back to the Grand Senate and very quietly maneuver behind the scenes to
have me or any member of my staff removed, I suggest you rethink that strategy.
If any attempt at that kind of indirect approach is made, I will release
Iceman's message to the public and charge ALL of you with deliberate
obstruction of the war effort. The A.I.s will back me up. Their threat to stand
aside doesn't have to be limited to having you removed from this Committee.
They can just as easily publicly demand your executions."

"The Grand Senate would NEVER approve that kind of
action!" yelled one of the Committee members.

Howard shrugged. "Who said they had to? I don't think
Iceman would care if you were executed by government decree, or by one of your
constituents."

The member who had just spoken suddenly became very pale.
The Chair waived his hand through the air. "Alright," he said
wearily. "You win, Admiral, for now. But when this war is over, the public
is going to hear about this. I promise you that."

Howard laughed. "No, Mr. Chair. I promise YOU that. I
promise you that the public is going to hear how you … all of you, tried to
micro-manage this war, how you tried to interfere with our military strategy,
and how you were willing to put your political careers ahead of the public
good. I have no problem accepting the consequences of what I've done. I can
honestly say that I will sleep easy at night, and I'm not afraid of how the
public will judge my actions. If you're not afraid of that judgment, you should
be. Now I've said all I'm going to say here today. This meeting is
adjourned!"

As he walked away, he stopped suddenly, turned around and
said, "Oh, one more thing. If Doctor Furgeson honestly believes that there
are still survivors on Avalon, and that there's no contagious biological agent
active there, then I'll be glad to have one of our freighters carry her there.
A remotely controlled shuttle will take her down to the planet so that she can
check it out with her own eyes. You tell her that, and see if she accepts my
offer." No one said a word as he and his people stormed out of the room.

Later that day, Howard listened to the Committee members
being interviewed by the media about the unannounced show of military strength
in the skies over Geneva. All of the members praised the Space Force and
supported the official statement that the formation was intended to show that
Earth's defenses were still strong after the battle. Through the grapevine, he'd
heard that private queries of the Committee members by other members of the
Grand Senate had been firmly rejected. They were playing ball. The only
question was for how long. With a little luck it would be long enough.