and gold, it was really a computer system, one of those multitouch jobs we’d picked up while foraging for equipment. We used it to work on the web.
“I’ve never worked on one of these,” she said, tapping at it.
“Here, you can pull up a browser like this,” I said, showing her the finger motions.
She mimicked me and made appreciative sounds at the results. “I need to get one of these for office conferences.”
I sat down across from her. The bluish light of the tabletop computer between us lit up our faces with a soft blue glow. “Senator, let’s get down to business.”
She nodded. “You said you had something to show me?”
I smiled at her. It was hard, but I did it. She gave me a shaky flash of her teeth in return. I wondered if she believed I was about to kill her. Perhaps she suspected that my surprise was going to be violent in nature. Certainly, my odd appearance and Sandra’s hostile attitude wasn’t putting her at ease.
I pulled out the laser unit the ship had fabricated and placed it gently on the glowing surface of the computer between us. The tabletop computer was set to notice objects and react to them while idle. It made rippling, glowing waves pulsate away from the laser, as if it had been placed into a pool of virtual water.
“What is it?”
“It’s a miniature version of one of the lasers that arm this ship.”
She looked at me, flicking her eyes to my face. “Why are you showing it to me?”
“I’m not showing it to you. I’m giving it to you.”
“Alien technology?”
“Yes, alien weaponry. It’s not terribly exotic, but it is better than anything we can make yet. I think that if we manufactured enough of these and we had power-packs for troops-I think these things can damage the Macros more than we’ve done with mere explosives.”
“On behalf of my government, I thank you for this gift. I must say, I expected to hear a list of demands and recriminations, not receive an invaluable gift.”
“I’m happy to surprise you, Senator. My purpose is to demonstrate we are an organization that does more than raid the planet. I would urge you to make this gift public.”
“For PR purposes.”
“Correct.”
“Could you do something for me, Commander Riggs?”
“Name it.”
“Would you show me what’s behind those sunglasses?”
I looked at her for a moment. While we stared at each other, Sandra slid from the wall she’d been leaning against. She’d stood there quietly throughout the conversation. She sat in my easy chair now. She still had her arms crossed, but she looked faintly pleased. I suspected she wanted a better view of the shock on the Senator’s face when I revealed my face.
“Are you sure you want that, Senator?”
“I’m old-fashioned. It’s hard for me to deal with someone whose eyes I can’t see.”
Sandra laughed at that. Senator Bager flashed her an odd look, then went back to staring at me.
I sighed quietly and removed my sunglasses. Part of my eyelid had regrown, and I was able to close that bizarre left eye. Not completely, however. It still showed a very odd slit of silvery-purple madness.
The Senator sucked in her breath. “Did our agent do that?”
“Yes,” I said, replacing my sunglasses. “I’m afraid so.”
“I would like to personally apologize for that ugly incident, Commander. Let me assure you, there won’t be any repeat of that sort of action.”
“That’s good to hear, Senator.”
“Please, call me Kim. And let me reassure you, that I had nothing to do with that misguided decision.”
“I understand you, Senator,” I said. And I did understand her. But I didn’t believe her.
“Is there anything else besides this artifact you’d like to show or tell me?”
“Yes,” I said, “I want you to study that thing. Tell me what kind of power it requires, what voltage, amperage, etc. I want to create a portable power supply for it. Then I want to manufacture thousands of these weapons. An army equipped with these units can fight the Macros on much better terms.”
She tilted her head, as if in disbelief. “How can you make thousands?”
“Each of our ships has self-repair and fabrication capabilities. Given enough of the right raw materials, every one of the Nano ships can produce those weapons, quickly.”
“What do you want from us in return?”
“Besides a treaty outlining an alliance, we want peace and respect. And one more big thing.”
“Name it.”
“A base of operations. A home for supply, personnel recruitment, etc. And a budget, of course, to purchase our requirements. We have to end our raiding. It’s not good for PR.”
Senator Bager looked down at the tabletop computer, eyeing the laser unit, which still sat there untouched. She was thinking hard.
“A sovereign territory? Where?”
I threw up my hands. “Legally, I think it would be something like an embassy or the UN building. As far as where to put it, how about on a tract of Federal land in the Midwest? Or probably better, an island base no one really needs?”
She nodded. “If we need to bring you mass supplies, an island with a port would work best. I’ll look into it. You realize, I don’t have the authority to grant you any of this. I have to talk to the administration.”
“Of course.”
“One more question from my side. Why did you choose me? Why did you insist that I come here?”
“We know you. It would be hard to send a double who was really an assassin. Also, because I wanted to change your mind about us. I wanted you to see you made a mistake, that you need to work with us, not try to coerce us.”
She nodded slowly. “Okay Commander. Do you have any more questions from your side?”
“Yes. You are on the Foreign Relations Committee. I want to know the inside story on the ground war in Argentina. I’ve seen the propaganda, and hysterical internet claims. Both contradict one another. How is the war really going down there?”
She licked her lips. “We’re losing. Every day, we lose more land. There are more of the machines coming out of those domes every day as well.”
“Tactical nuclear weapons?”
“We killed a few dozen, but then they put up some kind of field or something. They shoot down everything we throw at them now, sometimes even artillery shells. We are building nuclear mines, but…”
“How fast are they advancing?”
There was a long silence. She stared at the laser on the tabletop. It was still giving off glowing blue waves. She never even looked up as she answered.
“They will be in Brazil in three weeks. They will take all of South America in three months, maybe less.”
I nodded. No wonder the Macros hadn’t come back with more ships. As far as they were concerned, they’d already won.
22
Less than ten days after my conversation with Senator Kim Bager, Star Force had an official home base on Earth. I’d kind of expected to end up in some desert… out in New Mexico, maybe. But it didn’t turn out that way. They gave us Andros Island. It was a beautiful, tropical, relatively unpopulated place in the Caribbean. It was plenty big enough, over two thousand square miles-a little bigger than Delaware. I think they gave it to us because it was located right between the marching Macros and Florida. Also, it was surprisingly unpopulated. They
