machine alone on any one project. The trick was to get the machines to produce a ship as fast as possible, without wasting any unit’s time. I proceeded to work with Fourteen, asking it a battery of questions about each major component of a Nano ship. Many of them I didn’t need. I decided to forgo the usual medical room, for example. It was nice to have, but if my pilots were nanotized, they could self-repair. I also dropped the biggest time and materials user, the onboard repair unit-essentially another duplication factory. Without this, and with only one engine and one weapon system, the ship could be produced in a drastically reduced timeframe. We had more alien factories now, and working together, the output was surprising. As I worked it out, a slower, lightly-armed ship could be produced in about… thirty hours.
I worked to reduce the production time further. The biggest optional equipment item I had left in was the snake-arm component. Without it, many capabilities of the Nano-ship would be lost. Smaller ships without an arm component wouldn’t be able to airlift troops, for example. But the arm component would cost me about seven hours per ship. Without it, I could produce a new ship in about twenty-three hours.
Looking at the numbers, hull-size was cheap. I decided to make these new ships deceptively large. Way bigger than they needed to be. In fact, they would be mostly empty-a metallic balloon of nanites. That was the one thing I had plenty of-nanites. They could be produced with common elements and they came out fast. They poured out of the factories like a dribbling faucet. We had barrels of them lying around dormant, ready to be chained into a swarm and applied to a task. Thinking about nanites gave me an idea.
“Fourteen, have all non-engaged Units produce raw nanites. I want them without specialization, just common builders.”
“Options set. Option settings relayed.”
I winced, but Fourteen didn’t tell me about units Six and Thirty-Five. It was a relief. Immediately, the machine began that quiet, almost subliminal hum. About a minute later, a silvery pool of nanites dribbled out of the finishing box. I put a bucket under there to catch them. I called Kwon then, asking him to report to Fourteen’s shed.
There was an immediate knock at the door. I smiled, Kwon had been outside, probably hopping from one huge foot to the other.
“Come in!” I shouted.
Kwon swung the door open and stuck in his head. “Sorry sir.”
“Don’t be. I called you.”
“I know. I mean-never mind.”
“You mean because you were standing out there waiting for me to come outside? Like this was some kind of gas station bathroom?”
He gave me a tentative smile. “Yes sir. Are you finished yet? I really have to go.”
I raised my eyebrows and smiled back. Had Kwon just told a joke? That wasn’t his usual style. I chuckled to reward him. I figured after I let him in on how things were, after he really learned the score, he wasn’t going to be telling any new jokes for quite a while.
“Staff Sergeant Kwon, it’s great to see you. Now, we have problems, lots of them.”
“May I ask something first, sir?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, do you know anything about the guy in the nanite-hut, sir? He’s screaming pretty hard. He’s locked the door, and the med-tech is considering breaking it down.”
“That’s Major Robinson,” I said. I thought about it. If he’d locked the door, then he didn’t want any witnesses to his raving. He probably hadn’t even strapped in properly. That was fine with me. If the man wanted to whizz his pants in private, that was his business. “Just leave him alone. He’s fine.”
“Did you say,
“He used to be General Robinson.”
Kwon blinked at me. Slowly, he nodded. He didn’t ask any more questions about the subject. That’s what I liked about Kwon. You could throw him a surprise and he would go with it.
“Now listen to me, First Sergeant. First, I want you to send a marine to every shed-”
“Oh yeah, about that, sir. I’m getting reports from all the operators. They say something’s wrong with the machines.”
“There’s nothing wrong with them. I’ve just changed their orders, that’s all.”
“You have?”
“Oh,” I said, finally getting it. “That’s why you came over here, isn’t it? You came to figure out what the hell I’m doing in here with the machines.”
“Well, we had a strict schedule to meet and-”
“Schedule? Who set it?”
“General Sokolov, sir.”
“Sokolov is-not here. I’m in command now. Here’s the new schedule: Send a man out to every shed have him catch the nanites coming out of the units.”
“I’m sure the operators know to do that, sir.”
“Not all of them have operators sitting around. In fact, most don’t. Put out the order.”
Kwon was slow sometimes, but he finally caught the note of urgency in my voice. “Yes sir,” he said, relaying the order over his headset.
I turned back to Fourteen and went over my calculations again. I wanted my first ship done in less than twenty-three hours. I’d forgo the arm unit for the first ship. Maybe, if the Earth governments gave me the time and materials, I could retrofit them with arms.
“Sir?” said Kwon.
I turned around, surprised he was still there. I snapped my fingers at him. “There’s something else,” I said. “How is the quarantine going? I want this base sealed tight. No one gets in or out for now.”
“About that, sir-”
“Kwon, I need a man who can get things done without hand-holding.”
“Of course, but there’s someone here. A chopper just landed at the southern end of the base.”
I paused and blinked. I’d heard a chopper earlier, but since there wasn’t anyone shooting at it, I figured it was ours. “Who?”
“General Kerr, sir.”
— 6-
I was surprised to see Kerr. Really, the visit itself was a breach of protocol. We’d agreed that Earth government forces weren’t to move around our island without advanced notice and permission. They were supposed to land back at the main base, and talk to our staffers there if they wanted to go anywhere else. Hell, they weren’t even supposed to know that this ‘secret’ base existed.
But that had all been before my ships had flown off to some other godforsaken rock in the sky with every last one of my Star Force pilots inside their dark, heartless bellies. Now, the earthers had no respect for our arrangements and deals.
“Riggs?” asked Kerr, spotting me and heading in my direction. He lifted a hand to me in greeting. He was a rare man in many ways. The fact that everyone around him could kill him in an instant and might even want to seemed not to bother him in the slightest.
“General Kerr,” I said, shaking his hand gently. I had to remember every time I touched a normal man to be careful.
Kerr smiled, but the smile was tight and official-looking. “Good to see you made it back, Riggs. I knew you would.”
“I was just following your suggestion, sir.”
Kerr snorted and nodded. He looked around the camp while we talked. He noted the two guard towers and the six or seven armed men in sight. He didn’t look overly impressed.
“Can you tell me why you are visiting Star Force, sir?” I asked.
