Chapter 5

The team spent the next 48 hours in intense practice learning to use their new flying capabilities. They found that they could rise to about 100,000 feet or so before the air density got so low that they weren't able to make much headway. Since it wasn't necessary for them to breathe, the lack of oxygen was no problem, but the cold would have bothered them were it not for the superb temperature control afforded by their armor.

They could reach several hundred miles per hour at lower altitudes, but the wind they generated tended to make them noticeable, particularly when they flew through clouds. They could even influence the weather if they flew too fast through clouds: this increased the tendency for rain or snow to form, depending on the temperature near the ground. They even speculated that they might break droughts if they could figure out how to get clouds to move into the proper position. Jase resolved to ask Seven if that was an appropriate project for M'rth's people to work on.

After this period of testing and evaluation, M'rth made a few minor modifications to fix some glitches. Seven contacted Pedro's group for them to start using the flying suits. Once the testing period was over, Jase's team went exclusively to monitoring the city while flying, since it was so much more flexible than roosting on tall buildings. In the following two weeks, they managed to stop 27 muggings simply because flying gave them a much better view of the back alleys and hidden pockets of the city where trouble can fester.

Seven showed up one day looking somewhat flustered. This was such a radical departure from her normal demeanor that it caught everybody's attention immediately. Seven appeared while they were all sitting around the kitchen table drinking coffee and talking about nothing in particular. Seven showed how preoccupied she was by refusing a cup of coffee when it was offered! She sat on her accustomed chair and Judy asked her what was the problem.

"There is a big potential change in Earth history coming up and the Galactic Council doesn't know whether or not to interfere. The problem is that the initial change will be made in the time of Alexander the Great, so that there will be sweeping changes in history. We have been put on the horns of an ethical dilemma; there will be so many changes that our computer simulations can't handle them all. The changes we are sure of are all to the good of humanity, as a whole, although at least half of the current population of the Earth will cease to exist! Unfortunately, we are not able to predict the final outcome of the contemplated changes."

Everyone was shocked by this announcement, and Judy said, "I think that the change in history should be prevented. I am a firm believer in 'better the devil you know than the devil you don't know'. It seems to me that it would be grossly unfair to too many people to allow the changes to take place when you don't know the ultimate outcome."

Seven answered, "That's what has us bothered so much. We have discovered that a lunatic scientist has already set the change in motion, so the situation is already becoming very complicated. We have arrested the woman who initiated the change, but our simulations say that we should fix them at the time of Alexander the Great, rather than fix them at this end of the event list. The reasons for this are very complicated and can only be explained mathematically, since they involve quantum mechanics, so please just take my word for it."

Jase interjected, "I assume that this an assignment that you want us to undertake; otherwise, you wouldn't be here."

"You are absolutely right, Jase. In essence, we want you to go back to the time of Alexander's wars with the Persians and make sure that he wins. The mad scientist has unleashed a hoard of androids to fight on the side of the Persians. Some of Alexander's battles were very close things, and only small shifts in reality could change the outcome.

"The androids are dressed like Persian infantry, to fool the Greeks, but your infra red vision should make it easy to pick out the androids among the real humans. If possible, we want you to attack the androids before they get mixed into the regular Persian army. There's nearly a 2-hour cushion between the time the androids arrive and the battle starts. We suggest that you use the lightning guns against the androids; we can arrange a convenient electrical storm to occur when you attack. That should mask your weapons well enough in the confusion of battle. Both sides will duck for cover when the storm strikes from fear that their metal armor will attract lightning.

"Will you take on the mission?" Everybody nodded in the affirmative, so they all left to get their armor before being transported to GPD headquarters for their detailed briefing. The actual briefing took only 12 seconds under the influence of the "teaching" helmets, so they were ready to head for ancient Asia within a few minutes. The were transported to the bank of the Granicus River in Turkey on May 17, 334 BC, where they expected to find the touch down point of the androids.

The mad scientist had not wanted the Persians to know that they were being aided by outside sources, so she wanted to keep the androids hidden until the battle between the Greeks and the Persians actually started. At a pivotal point in the battle, the androids would be rushed in to defeat the Greeks and then disappear. That way, she hoped for the androids to stay hidden from the Persians, though, of course, there was no way for them to hide from the Greeks.

The androids were hidden behind a line of hills just to the east of the battlefield. There were 43 androids in the gang; there was no need for more, since the androids could not be killed the way a real man could. The androids' skin was too tough to be penetrated by a sword or spear, and they would never get tired, so it was inevitable that the androids would win. It was only a question of how long it would take.

Jase's team attacked the androids only moments after the team had been transported to the Granicus River. The armor's invisibility feature was turned on, so the team had the great advantage of surprise. A thunderstorm had been raging for nearly an hour before they arrived, so there was no chance that the lightning bolts would be detected by the miserable human soldiers of both sides who were mainly concerned with just trying to keep dry.

The team formed a skirmish line and swept in on the unsuspecting android army. The members of the team began firing their lightning guns as soon as they were close enough. The androids were able to locate the team members by watching the path of the lightning arc. An android was destroyed every time it was struck by an arc, but this soon became a problem for the team because the pools of molten metal lying on the wet ground began to attract the bolts of electricity even when they were aimed somewhere else. It was strange to see an arc start from a lightning gun toward its intended target, but turn at the last moment to strike a spot on the ground yards away from the target.

The androids had been programmed with battle intelligence, so they knew to scatter when they found that they could not mount an adequate defense against their attackers. Even though the team was invisible, the lightning guns quickly got hot and became visible as heat sources when the androids used their infra red vision. Thus, the androids could see the guns, even though they could not see the humans. However, this was the only advantage the androids had, since the augmented humans could move even faster than the androids. The androids ducked and twisted and turned to escape the lightning bolts and did well as long as they were sufficiently close to a puddle of metal lying on the ground, but the lightning bolts from the team's guns hit with telling effect when the android moved far enough away from a metallic puddle.

The battle dissolved into a deadly game of tag, because being tagged "it" by the lightning arc was sure death for the androids. The androids had been designed to be adept with swords and stabbing spears, so they were very good at dodging about and avoiding being shot. This kept the battle going for hours, and, by the time the last of the androids had been eliminated, there was no time for the thunderstorm to stop and the ground to dry before dark. Therefore, the battle between the Greeks and the Persians was postponed until the next day.

Once all of the androids were destroyed, the team was transported back to GPD headquarters where the first thing they did was drink copious quantities of water. The battle had been a lot more hectic than anyone would have predicted. The team had used power so fast that, even in the rain, their armor had not been able to extract enough water from the atmosphere to keep up with the needs of the fusion power pack. Jase promised himself that the next time they got involved in such a job, they would all carry extra water bottles for use in an emergency.