“I’m listening.”
“Have you ever heard of Tyche? It’s a theoretical planet out in the Oort cloud.”
“Let me guess, it’s right where the rest of the Nano ships flew out and vanished?”
“You are a prophet. Yes, Tyche has historically been an explanation for an effect, an odd clustering of comets and other crap out in the farthest, darkest regions of our star system. People thought a big dark planet might be hidden in a far orbit, disturbing the ice chunks that fly around out there. But now with new evidence, it seems that it must be another of your rings, like the one you found on Venus.”
“The Venus ring has its mysteries as well,” I said. “For example, I don’t know how we could have missed it all these years.”
“I shouldn’t be telling you this stuff,” said Kerr.
“But you’re going to anyway, because I gave you a wealth of free data. And because I’m one of the few people who can actually make use of your intel.”
“Yeah, something like that. Venus has a thick crust, about thirty miles deep. We don’t think the Venus ring came down from space and sank into the planet. Instead, our theory states it was already
“Huh,” I said, thinking that one over. It would explain a lot. “Any clue as to who built these rings or when?”
“They’ve been around for a long time. Maybe it was the Blues. Maybe it was someone else we’ve yet to meet.”
“Encouraging, given the friendly nature of everyone we’ve met out here so far. What about the atmosphere of Venus? Why hasn’t it all escaped into the void on the other side of the Venus ring, where the blue giant reigns?”
“We are still theorizing on that point. I suppose for now, it’s enough to know that only a cohesive moving body like a ship can activate the ring and be transported to another star system.”
“Yeah,” I said. “As usual, we know how the tech functions, but we have no understanding of the principles behind its operation. Nor can we duplicate any of it.”
I told him then of my theory we were like Plains Indians who’d learned to use rifles and horses, the tools of a more advanced enemy.
“At least we’re still on our feet and fighting,” he said.
“Right, but do me a favor.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“If they come and offer us a pile of blankets-just say no, okay?”
— 34-
China weighed upon my mind over the following days. Looking back at it, I’d taken risks and things had gone badly. Guilt hung around my neck, but I tried to shake it off. I had to keep reminding myself that although I’d provoked the Macros into cruising over the Earth, the Chinese had decided their own fate by taking a shot at them. They’d paid a grim price, and I’d added a little damage of my own, but in the long run I’d helped save their nation from complete annihilation. I’d also kept the Macros from nuking the rest of the world and kick-starting the war again.
Because I’d been gone for over a week and Barrera hadn’t staged a coup, I made him a Lieutenant Colonel. Major Robinson looked slightly annoyed. Barrera didn’t offer any expression at all. He was a stoic man-the quiet, effective guy every leader needs to back him up.
When I told Crow about the promotion, he flapped a thick-fingered hand at me. “Great, great,” he said. “Why don’t you give him a bloody medal for bombing China back into the Stone Age while you’re at it?”
“I ordered that, not Barrera,” I said.
Crow shook his head. “Don’t tell anybody about that. The press isn’t blaming you-don’t change their minds.”
I frowned. “Who are they pinning it on?”
“Me!” roared Crow, stabbing his chest with a thumb. He did it so hard he broke the skin. His tee shirt welled up with a stain and a thin jet of blood squirted out onto the tabletop computer between us when he pulled his thumb back out of the hole.
“Not quite used to nanite-muscles yet, are you Jack?” I asked.
Crow dabbed at his shirt in annoyance. “They blame me, Riggs, because
“Why didn’t you tell them I was in operational command?”
Crow grinned at me, but there wasn’t any levity in the expression. “Don’t you get it, Riggs? I was in overall command. It was my fault, no matter what. The press loves you and they hate me. Don’t you watch the vids?”
I shook my head slowly.
“Figures,” muttered Crow. He ripped off his shirt and dabbed at the blood that still seeped out of his chest wound. “The one guy they gush over doesn’t even care. I’m blamed for fouling the nest and I couldn’t even control my own ship at the time.”
“Life’s not fair, Jack,” I told him. “At least you’ve got that sweet Star Force pension to look forward to.”
Crow glared. I smiled and left. I had an army to pull together, and only three months left to do it. The butcher’s order was up, and I would see to it that it was filled.
The following days blurred into weeks. I had the recruits, the weapons and the uniforms, but that wasn’t all I needed. Most of the cargo weight was in the contingency items. When I’d cut the deal with the Macros, I hadn’t had the foresight to ask what kind of world we’d be required to fight on. Were we going to the Garden of Eden or an airless rock? Was it going to be hot or cold? What kind of gravity should I expect? So many unknowns…. I was overwhelmed trying to produce a force that could be effective in any environment.
Robinson and I had many late night meetings about it. He was coming with me as my exec. He had some experience and had shown loyalty. I figured he might make Lieutenant Colonel after this little exercise was over, too. But I didn’t tell him that. It was best to keep them hungry.
I put Barrera in charge of production. When we left, he’d be running the show for me back on Earth-and that included keeping a handle on Crow. That was the plan, anyway.
Robinson and I juggled the numbers extensively. We knew we had an unknown amount of reserved cargo space on a Macro ship. We knew how much the cargo was to weigh, but not the volume we would be allowed. I didn’t feel like flying back out to the blue giant system again and asking them for any more details. For all I knew each question would cost us Canada, or Mozambique. I didn’t want to make any more horrible mistakes, so I figured we had to take all of our water, food, air and even living quarters with us. What did a crowd of eighty-foot tall robots know about comfortable, pressurized cabins with bunks, showers and working toilets? Medical systems too, were at a premium. I put together a staff of doctors and nurses to help out with the early hours after an injury. The nanites could repair any wound over time, but they didn’t always keep a man alive long enough to effect those repairs. We still needed plasma to replace blood lost due to hemorrhaging, and about a thousand other things.
“We can’t do it all, sir,” Robinson told me with seven weeks to go.
I looked at him. “We’re going to complete this mission, Major.”
“Yes, sir,” he said. “But I don’t see how we can adapt to every environment we might encounter. There are extremes we can’t deal with. Such as a world with four times our natural gravity.”
“We have to assume the Macros are not complete imbeciles. They know what we can do, and they hopefully won’t waste our troops in a place where we are unsuited. I’m assuming the world will at least be somewhere we can function.”
“What if we are forced to fight underwater?” asked Robinson. “Our weapons will not be terribly effective in a liquid environment. What if the enemy technology is high-level? What if they have shields, sir?”
I eyed him. He’d always been a worrier, but he had some good points. It was daunting to be heading to an
