I eyed the screen. “No,” I said. “But we might not have to.”
— 8
After the Macros did nothing for a full hour, I broke up the meeting. We didn’t know how much time we had, but I figured we didn’t have any extra hours to waste getting ready.
I left Major Barrera in my office, with orders to monitor everything and call me back in if anything changed. He nodded without looking away from the big screen. I left him there, confident the situation was in good hands for now.
Crow hurried to catch up with me out on the sidewalk. I was thinking hard and heading toward Socorro. I hadn’t flown my personal ship since I’d been back, and it was about time I got into this game personally.
“Kyle,” Crow said at my shoulder.
I glanced at him, expecting another hail of jokes at my expense. I was surprised to see a worried, haggard expression on his face.
“Look,” he said, “we have to pull it together. I’m serious. We’re all in this together, and we’re all going to die this time if we cock it up.”
“Agreed.”
We were walking side-by-side now. I’d slowed down a bit, but kept moving toward the collection of circular pits we used as a landing field at the southern edge of the base. They looked like blast-pans from an aerial perspective, but since our ships usually used gravitational repellers to lift off and land, they weren’t used that way. The low walls of concrete around each landing pit mostly served to shelter crews and cargo from the weather. They also helped manage traffic. If a ship was told to land in pit eighteen, everyone knew where they were headed.
I heard a sound behind us. A thump and a splash. I glanced back, not really surprised. Crow’s reaction was much more dramatic. He stopped and whirled, eyeing Sandra who now walked behind us. She nodded to him coolly, and he nodded back. She wore her raincoat and a black fedora. Maybe she’d grown tired of having rain running down her face.
Crow started walking with me again. Sandra shadowed us about five paces behind. She reminded me of a Secret Service agent, trailing dignitaries while they had a private conversation. I knew Sandra could hear everything we were saying, but by staying behind she gave people the illusion they were speaking with me privately.
Many powerful men had bodyguards, that was nothing new. In my case, I only had one lovely agent, but that was all I needed. Now and then, Crow gave Sandra a quick, worried glance over his shoulder. No one liked to have her behind them. Everyone knew she could probably kill them before they could move. That was the beauty of the arrangement.
“I’ve got something I need to show you, mate,” Crow said, keeping his voice low.
“Can it wait? I’m going to set my factories to produce defensive materials.”
“ Your factories? Don’t you mean Star Force’s factories?”
“Excuse me.”
Crow threw up his hands. “There I go again. Sorry. Let’s start over on the subject of factories. I’ve got more of them.”
For the first moment of the entire conversation, he had my full attention. Crow smiled. Some of his natural smugness began to shine through again.
“Yeah, you heard me right,” he said. “Did you think you were the only one with a secret base on this island? The only difference is I’ve managed to keep my base an actual secret.”
I heard a muttered curse behind us. Neither of us glanced toward Sandra, who was obviously listening in.
Like Sandra, my first reaction was anger. But I quickly realized that was a foolish response. After all, hadn’t I built my own base of Nanotech power? More importantly, if Crow had factories he could commit to the defensive effort, that would strengthen our position against the Macros. We could shout about who should have told what to whom later on.
Crow watched all these thoughts and emotions play out over my face with amusement.
“How many do you have?” I asked.
“Do you want to come see it? My holiest of holies? My inner sanctum?”
“I didn’t say I wanted to get married.”
Crow produced a harsh laugh. “Don’t worry. You aren’t my type, mate. Come on, let’s take your ship.”
We’d reached pit eighteen. I hopped over the low concrete wall and walked up to the ship. Crow and Sandra trailed behind. I told Socorro to open her hatch and Crow followed me up a short ramp. Sandra hurried quietly after us.
I ordered the ship to create a third chair inside the bridge. Crow climbed onto the raised gleaming shell that had contoured itself into the shape of a crash seat. To normal people it would have been uncomfortable. But nanotized Star Force personnel didn’t care about hard surfaces against their backsides.
“No safety harness?” Crow asked, half-joking.
His seat, being a makeshift facsimile created by the ship, looked more like a steel bathtub than a real padded seat. There were no belts or buckles. Before I could answer, Sandra spoke up.
“Socorro,” she said, “restrain Admiral Crow. Secure him to his seat.”
Six thin black arms rose up, whipping like steel tentacles. They grabbed each limb and the last two crossed his chest. He was held firmly to his seat.
“Happy?” she asked.
“Not at all,” Crow said. “This reminds me of a dentist I once knew in Sydney.” Turning back to me, he said: “Shouldn’t give your girlfriend the keys, mate. Bad policy, that.”
Crow was referring to the Socorro’s command permissions. Sandra was able to order the ship to do things, including flying it in my absence. Sandra opened her mouth to make another snappy reply, but I raised my hand. “I’m the commander on this ship. Socorro, loosen Crow’s restraints. Allow him to adjust or remove them by touch or command. They should function as automated support systems, not shackles.”
“Options set,” said the ship.
“Now, Jack,” I said. “Tell me where to fly.”
Crow gave me the coordinates. We took off and within a few minutes were hovering over the northern edge of the island. We’d never done much with the land up here, it was mostly undeveloped swamp and forestland. Bahaman pines ruled the area, standing out among sprays of tall grass and expanses of sand. Gliding down over a wetland area Crow had us set down in a small body of water.
I went with it, only mildly surprised to be coming down in a pond. In order to have hidden a base for this long, Crow had to have put it underwater or underground. There were simply too many flyovers on Andros Island to hide it for any length of time in any other way.
To my surprise, the pond we descended into opened up and turned black as we came down into it. I had the external cameras on and was able to watch visually during our descent.
“Ah,” as I said, nodding to myself. “There is no pond, is there?”
“Give the man a prize!” Crow said, chuckling.
We continued to descend. Lights glimmered below. I saw concrete and fluorescent lamps that automatically sensed our approach and flickered into life.
“What the hell is going on?” Sandra demanded.
“Nanites,” I explained. “Crow made a false pond with a surface of nanites. As we approached, it opened. Like a giant version of our melting walls aboard any ship.”
“It looked so real.”
Crow leaned forward, plucking away the tiny black arms that attempted to restrain him. He slapped at them and they reluctantly retreated, as per my instructions. “That’s the genius of it,” he said proudly. “There is some water involved. I have the nanites pool up about an inch on the surface of the roof. When a ship comes down, they
