Chapter 12

Larry and his company did go ahead and release the antigravity device as is. They demonstrated its usefulness and capability to lift objects efficiently if they were not too heavy. The device was embraced at first, more as a novelty or toy but gradually it began to find its way into everyday use. It was obvious from the first that it was much too power hungry for use in larger designs. Surprisingly, one of the large aerospace companies began doing some research on it as a motive source for smaller aircraft and personal flyers. They developed small drones that were absolutely quiet and so stealthy that even if it was known where they were they could not be detected by any of earth’s electronic detection devices. They were so small and stealthy that a good paint scheme made them almost impossible to see with visual equipment too. Unknowingly, Larry had released a new weapon on the world.

Larry and his company became a pariah to all the more militant countries that produced oil. They and the terrorists declared Larry a minion of the “Great Satan” and placed a bounty on him ostensibly for his crimes against the people of Islam.

The first Larry knew of the bounty was when his home and research facility was attacked with rocket fire early one morning just after everyone arrived for work. Thankfully, Lander was on the job and deployed his shields in time so all that happened was the seven rockets that were launched exploded when they hit the shields. Unfortunately, the explosions were directed back away from the shield and damaged or destroyed several trees and a couple of buildings outside the shields. Two of the rocket teams were too close to the shield and were caught in the explosions. Three of the four men in the teams were killed and the fourth was seriously injured.

As soon as the explosions were over, Lander directed the security teams toward the escaping saboteurs. Of course, Larry was giving the directions as if he was watching them escape using earth technology. In a way, he was. They had several cameras placed strategically around the research campus and Lander was feeding his drone video into the camera feeds. The video was then recorded as if it was actually taken by the earthly surveillance devices.

Before the escaping terrorists were all captured, law enforcement began arriving. When it was all said and done, all but two of the teams were either killed or captured. Intense interrogation of the men captured revealed they were members of ISIS. Larry was to be killed as punishment for convincing the world to use other energy sources besides oil. The Mullahs line was this was an attack against Muslims because it took funds away that were necessary to feed their people. This appeared to be almost a last ditch attempt by ISIS and the oil producing countries to protect their incomes.

After he was allowed to go back into his facility, Larry asked Lander, “Lander, can you access the interrogation files on the prisoners as the government interrogates them?”

“Yes, I can. What reason do you have for wanting this information?”

“Based on what we got from the men before they were taken off I don’t believe this is or will be an isolated incident. I want to be proactive not only in our defense but in ridding the world of this vermin. I propose to follow up on the information obtained from those men and eliminate their commanders and the entire organization itself. They have, in effect, declared war on me and mine. I intend to fight back.

“On another front, we need to prepare for at the best, an investigation and at the worst, an attack or break in attempts by our government and probably many of the governments, large corporations, and criminal organizations in the world. I wouldn’t be surprised if they aren’t preparing to move on us as we speak.”

“Why do you say that Larry?”

“Think about it. We were the target of seven missiles, each of which were strong enough to destroy a highly armored tank. The actual targets of the missiles took no damage. Back blast and collateral damage when the missiles hit your shield caused damage to two buildings that were not even being targeted. It is obvious from the blast pattern that the missiles hit something and exploded; yet there was nothing near the explosion site for them to hit. Don’t you think someone in the government is smart enough to figure out something made those missiles explode and directed the blast backwards away from our facility? I’m sure they will want access to whatever I used to safeguard my buildings.”

Rachel and Beth looked at each other and blanched. They whispered, “OH shit,” together, almost simultaneously.

Lander said, “Yes, I see what you mean. We need to be on our toes, as you would say. How do you propose to handle the attempts?”

“I really don’t know Lander. Obviously I don’t want to lose control of the technology although I’m not sure if I should keep it secret. From what you tell me, it is only useful in a small area. We can’t, for example cover a whole state or continent with the shield. It is a power hungry bitch also. It would take almost the entire output of one of our mid size reactors to cover a large city. Do we really want to get something like that started here on earth? On the other hand, can I justify not giving the technology to our government? It could save untold numbers of lives. All I know for sure is I don’t want to and will not allow them to force me to give up the technology.