“Damn. I hate being used. Do we have options?'
“Not really, sir. In fact, he told us that we might just be facing either a raid by aliens trying to kill him or a full-scale attack.
“We need to contact the Russians, Chinese, and our allies because if we are attacked we can't have a local war starting by mistake.
“God. What have we come to, thinking of global conflict as a local war? How much time do we have?'
“I don't know and I don't think Karpinen does. But he did start direct talks with us. I think something has to start soon.'
“Call General Holcum and I want a meeting of the joint chiefs as soon as we can quietly arrange it. Oh yes. I want Holcum and Scott to go to the War College and have them start setting up scenarios for war games.'
“Tom, have you thought about what will happen if this is all a mistake?'
“Yes. But what if it isn't?'
Chapter 16
Preparations
“Captain Ree. When do you think you can place the remotes?'
“Our long range sensors indicate that as long as we don't draw attention to our ships we can make the deliveries unnoticed. Which remotes do you want to send Commander?'
“I would like to start with the 30 millimeter creepers. We can add the larger remotes after we get the first information back from the creepers.'
“I will send the high protector and the landing vehicle to near orbit on the planet as soon as the 30 millimeters are loaded. The landing vehicle will make a low pass over the site just before dawn planet time. The satellite that we are on will have set in the night sky by then and the lander should be virtually invisible to the inhabitants.'
Science specialist Uubee was able to lock on to thousands of electromagnetic sources. The computers were working on translating the signals into the User dialect but so far only patterns were being cataloged. It would take a section of known translation to find the key. Uubee had again begged Commander Zblot to send a team to obtain one of the remote sensing devices that the recordings talked about. A TV, a radio, even the object called a phone could be enough to provide the key to translating the electromagnetic signals.
The members of the assault team were sitting in front of viewers linked to cameras on the high protector. Grup kept grunting and pointing to the large vehicles traveling on continent spanning pathways. Trreee's mouth would open and close whenever a new variety of flying object would appear. Ed soon stopped watching and started to worry. Nothing at first on the view screens bothered him. Everything seemed so normal, until ... Ed noticed the chaos. Large sections of the planet had few if any artificial vehicles while others had enormous pathways built just for vehicle use. It would be normal for the empty sections to be filled with the harvesting of food substances. But that did not seem the case on this planet. There were just large sections of the planet that were at a different technological level than the others. The climate was extreme. Temperatures easily varied from 100 degrees above the freezing point of water to 100 degrees below. Large expanses of water were interrupted by an assortment of landmasses. Thousands of kilometers of the landmass seemed to be ringed with volcanoes. Huge storms turned up the oceans. This was a planet of extremes.
Ed said, “Boys. Look carefully at the planet. What does it remind you of?'
After a long pause Grup replied, “By The Hell of the Lost of Debon! It looks like a military training planet. This place couldn't have been terra-formed could it?'
“I looked at the original planet surveys. There was no indication of planet manipulation. It never occurred to me until I saw the actual planet that a whole population of intelligent life could evolve on a planet this extreme.
“I need to talk to Commander Zblot at once. This place is going to be dangerous.'
It took four time cycles before the commander had time to talk to Ed.
“Team Leader Ed, I understand your worry but don't you think that the Chameleon would have noted the similarity of the planet to a military base.'
“Sir. Only military planets have all of these extremes in one location. Infiltrators such as the Chameleon train on a planet, go to a command ship, and are debriefed while traveling to another planet. Military training planets are of two types. The first are basic training camps and the second are specialized training facilities. This is a basic training type planet. An example of most usable planet types can be found on one planet. Only those infiltrators that are assigned to military commands set foot on training planets. I checked the Chameleon's records. The Chameleon went straight from initial training into second and first contact infiltration.'
A large dark object sped through the night sky. The only noise was the rushing of the wind as the object cut through it. Over a lonely section of woods, doors on the object opened and thousands of 30-millimeter pellets fell free. A total of 5,832 pellets fell from the sky over 10 square kilometers of woods. 1,234 of the objects hit the earth and remained still. The 4,598 remaining objects unfolded tiny legs. 357 were unable to unfold all six of their legs. 238 of the objects crept away from the landing site in random directions. But 4,003 turned southeast for the 10 kilometer walk to the isolated farmhouse. The six tiny legs moved the 30-millimeter objects southeast using 1- millimeter steps.
Things started to go wrong immediately for the 4,003 tiny remotes. 987 were washed away two hours into the trek when a spillway at a local beaver dam flooded an empty streambed. A small herd of frolicking deer tore though the marching machines leaving 456 crushed little bodies. When the full morning sun lighted the forest floor, the smaller creatures attacked the marching throng. A swallow would swoop down snatching a remote climbing a fallen tree. A raccoon sat for hours grabbing a creeping remote, pulling its legs off, washing it and trying to eat the metal tidbit. Squirrels would grab a remote and stack it in a hollow with the rest of their nuts.
228 of the original 4,003 made it to the edge of the field next to the farmhouse after a full day of walking. 97 made it across the field. A car pulled in front of the farm crushing 20 creepers. Hurried steps accounted for 5 more. And then came the crows. The last small creeper climbed a tree next to the farmhouse. It anchored itself to the tree and raised the back of its shell making a perfect parabolic transmitting dish. The first image of the farmhouse made it to the Users ship before it was replaced by a large yellow slitted eye followed by a meow and a crunching of metal.
Captain Ree said, “I think we will have to try tomorrow night with the 25-centimeter drones.'
* * * *
Captain Sam McHenry loved the Air Guard. The Air Force was okay but with the Guard he flew civilian planes every day and was still able to take an F-16 for a joy ride at least once a week. The guard unit he was in, the 148th in Duluth, was one of the best. The 148th had a history of beating regular Air Force units in war games. To top it off since the 148th was part of the Air Force rapid deployment group to Europe; he had a chance for an all expense paid three-week vacation in Germany and England next year. McHenry just hoped he wouldn't be in a deployment to the Middle East. He had been in the Gulf before and didn't have any fond memories of the place.
McHenry knew something big was up. The 148th was ordered to have two ready planes fueled, weapons loaded and pilots suited prepared for immediate take-off, twenty-four seven. The briefing that just finished had a story about Colombian drug dealers using stealth aircraft purchased from the Chinese based on an original Russian design being used for deliveries in Minnesota. But why was a squadron of F-22 Raptors just moved to Grand Forks? And why were they installing those super secret missiles, AIM-X12Cs, under the wings of his Falcon? The AIM-X12C was an intelligent missile with optical, radar, and heat sensors onboard and guidance feed from the F-16's radar or an AWACs. It was a huge
missile that rivaled the AIM-54C Phoenix in size. All that firepower couldn't be for some two-bit Colombians. And why the special heads up for that private experimental aircraft, YS1? Something definitely wasn't kosher.
Well at least he would be able to do some flying against the F-22s. The squadron was scheduled to start a training rotation with the F-22 squadron this week. Most of the dogfights were to take place over Lake Superior. The Big Lake was a deceptive hunting ground, which he had used to his advantage in past war games with other fighter
