Chapter 7

The problem with railguns, electromagnetic propulsion, is it’s too fast. Yes, you can accelerate a relatively small object to incredible speeds almost instantaneously, but that speed or acceleration has a price tag on it. One, traveling through Earth’s atmosphere the friction and heat would soon build up and burn up any large object. A space ship would simply just burn up. Two, to keep people alive would require a barrel at lest 500 to 1,000 miles long. Plus it has to point almost straight up at some point. So the bottom line was that small packages could be easily put in near Earth orbit far cheaper with electromagnetic propulsion than rockets, but Earth men needed the slower acceleration of the rocket to survive reaching that same altitude. The difference between +12 g’s and 2 g’s is apparent.

Right now the major powers on Earth were putting themselves back together. Everybody was unsure what had just happened. Some people thought the Cree, well the Saucer people anyway, took out the North Pole Command bunker. After all the Cree no longer needed the President since they were out in the open now.

Other people figured it was one of the operators of Archangel rebelling against the corruption of the President and the other world leaders. He called down a strike on himself, leveling the playing field for everyone. We weren’t just about to tell the whole world who really did it. Let someone else take credit for it we figured.

As the day wore on it became apparent that Russia still had the best intelligence of those major nations that were left. When the US President went he took all his toys with him, so apparently did the other world leaders that were with him. Without those codes and passwords everywhere you looked things were shutting down and purging the files they contained. All that expensive hardware in orbit was useless junk without those keys. Even if we had had the codes though the weapons they controlled, like the Managua line of WW II, would have been useless against the Cree Saucers anyway. Right now we needed to find out what had become of the other two Saucers.

Twelve hours latter Russia had patched together an alliance with the US, Japan, and China. Telescopes and ground based radar arrays were tracking the pieces that were left, and the International Space Lab was planning how to snare them. The Earth would never be the same again. Believe it or not though, there was still a diehard group of ten percenters out there that wanted to just say it was all a giant hoax. There were no Saucers, no Cree, no CAI, it was all just an elaborate hoax to get more of his hard earned tax dollars.

Of course we also had all the other ten percenters that claimed and believed it was all a Russian plot, or American plot, or Chinese plot, or somebody else plot anyway. Trust was not an easy commodity to come by right now. Of course the younger generation compared it to the movie, well the comedy movie anyway, “Mars Needs Women“. Hell for that matter I didn’t know for sure that the Cree didn’t have a secret base on Mars. Of course I was much more worried about the AI’s than the Cree themselves.

It didn’t take long for everybody to get over the President’s loss, and get back to arguing over who was in control. With most of the states it was business as usual with them and their National Guard. The Pentagon and other command centers around the world remained in control of their armed forces, but nobody was sure what constituted a lawful government anymore. As it was everybody was concerned with more Cree showing up, and who could do something about it, than who was President. California was the only state that announced it was succeeding from the Union. That was rather short lived when the former California Governor was asked to head up the Interim Government until an election could be held.

By this time the different intelligence services had sorted themselves out and order had been restored. Most of the people left had not known anything about the Invasion. After a through search the information that had been held back was found and broadcast worldwide. It was the Russians that finally managed to establish, if not one world government, at least of a one world intelligence service and a special branch of the military that reported directly to them.

It would take us years to build a manned space force to go after the other two Saucers that were space junk now. On the other hand both Russia and the US had operational rail guns that could launch resupplies to the International Space Station now. Among those supplies were the parts for new drones that could be operated remotely from Earth.

In weeks the new International Space and Rescue Service had been born and formed. The most qualified people were chosen from around the world to be part of it. They were literally drafted into it, no refusal was allowed by a new set of laws drafted by the newly Chartered United Nations.

Under the new Charter the Earth was in a state of war with the Cree Empire. Until that war was settled the five Generals chosen by the UN had absolute control of those resources necessary to fight the Cree. The US supplied Four Star Airforce General Claud Anderson. Russia supplied General-lieutenant Sergey Usahakou former deputy minister of the FSB, now head of the Strategic Rocket Force. China provided General Xu Yuan from the Central Military Commission. Japan appointed General Hatazo Akinaga. The EU, or European Union, couldn’t decide so that seat is still open. Being diplomatic about it the head was chosen by drawing cards. General Hatazo Akinaga of Japan drew the high card the king of clubs.

While they were putting the world back together Nina, Morgan, and Max were mapping out where the pieces of the different Saucers were. True the Cree might be dead but the AI component was still very much alive we all figured, lack of a breathable atmosphere wouldn’t effect them at all. Once I had my starting point established it was a simple process to enlarge that sphere. Right now everybody was searching for space suits. Where they were teleporting to would be in deep space and there would be no breathable air at all out there.

Lacking the astronauts cool toys, we used LOX, liquid oxygen tanks, as our primary moving power, and had four space suits we commandeered, a nice way of saying we stole them, from the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center. By trial and error we finally located one of the AI Cubes and tagged it. Then we tracked down the second Box by what we assumed was his version of a SOS. We pulled it’s antenna and tagged it where we could pick them up latter. We also brought back several dead bodies.

Atrophies of the bodies of the Cree showed that they all had brain implants, but there was no indication that the Cubes had controlled the Cree with mental telepathy as I had first assumed. It became apparent that these Cree voluntarily chose to serve the AI Cubes. After further study several labs did discover that at sometime in the past a drug that inhibited free will had been used on them at some time in the past. Those same scientist and doctors speculated that after using it for years it was no longer necessary to control the Cree with it.

Of course Wanda and the Princesses proved that the CAI was capable of mind controlling us all if necessary. We were still not entirely sure what all the chips did even yet. Face it though, if you can wipe a mind of all it’s information, and then control what is put back in it, then effectively you have mind control.

We passed on the frequency of the two tracers we had placed on the AI Cubes floating around out there in space to the UN. Let them deal with the Cree and the CAI. Well at least the ones in our system now anyway.

<I found star charts Max.> Morgan announced as she stepped from wherever she had been, into the now of Madame Chang’s Palace of Pleasures and Pain, in one of our stolen space suits.

“So do you want to go visiting Morgan.” Max laughed.

<Hell yes, I want to go visiting. I want to find out what they know, and most of all what they intend to do about it.> Morgan shot back at Max.

<We all want to go Morgan!> Nina put in.

<Us too!> Wanda and the Princesses spoke up.

<The question is can Fred get us there?> Morgan questioned.

<If I have a location I can get you there, but you do realize there will be like spaceal drift and other factors this time. It’ll be trial and error again.> Fred answered.

<Fred what’s the chances of us stepping into a lump of solid rock or sun for that matter.> Nina asked.

<Bravo Nina, at last somebody asks me a real question. The answer is “Resistance”. When I establish my two points and fold time and space in around those two points I can feel the resistance of the matter on the other end. The vacuum of space has almost no resistance, air has a little resistance. On the other hand solid rock is really resistant to my push. I guess I could create a pocket in solid rock big enough to hold a person if it was really necessary, but why bother when I can find someplace in a wide open area that offers little resistance. If necessary I can always dump you over a nearby lake or body of water. The only bad thing about all this is how high you are when you emerge.> Fred explained.

“And if I emerged way up there?” Nina posed, pointing up.

<Then I’d pull you back here and recalculate my entry point till I get you close to the ground.> Fred laughed.

Things settled down and soon it was back to business as usual. Most people just wanted to forget the Saucers ever happened and move on. The ones that wanted to fight didn’t know how. Face it we didn’t even know where they came from. By this time the Military was back on the air telling everyone that they had everything under control. Soon they said we would carry the war to the enemy.

Shortly they had the mobile space probes assembled and rounded up the Saucer space junk and the AI’s. After much public debate the two AI’s were tethered to each other and put into stable orbit where we always knew where they were. The debris was put into another stable orbit and the Space Lab started studying it. True they had been ripped apart, but most of the inside was mostly intact.

The first thing they got up and running were the computers. After that they found the different Technical Manuals. It wasn’t long after that that they had everything, if not up and running, at least under study. Some of the scientist were even sure they could get the Saucers up and running again. Yes, they had the proverbial antigravity drives that would allow us to land them on Earth herself. The second thing they discovered was the cloaking device. Of course all these devices were dependent on the Total Energy Converted, TEC, we had already discovered. Without it’s massive output of power none of this would be possible.

“Empress all contact has been lost with the fleet that was sent to the Colony World Earth. The last three shipments of the “Serum” have gone missing, and now this ... this ... disaster, on top of all that.” Her Prime Minister wrung his hands as he tried to keep up with her march down the long corridor in the palace.

“Charles you know I have never trusted the CAI. I mean how can you trust a four foot cube of something or other. How do we know anything has actually happened? Not one Charles, three of my royal envoys according to the CAI just disappeared. The CAI doesn’t want us to know what is actually going on in the new Colony.” The Empress chided her Prime Minister.

“But your Majesty it was the CAI that discovered Earth and was responsible for developing this new source of the “Serum” which we really needed.” The Prime Minister put in.

“Yes ... yes ... that’s all true Charles, but Earth was an interdicted planet. Set aside from exploitation by royal decree. And now look at the cost to the Empire. More and more of my organic subjects are being infected with this new virus and no actual cure is in sight. As long as there is the “Serum” no real effort is being made to control the virus or it’s spread.” The Empress argued.

“But your Majesty the doctors assure us that a cure is imminent.” The Prime Minister stated the official party line.

“And how long have they been promising this miracle cure Charles.” The Empress sneered back at her Prime Minister.

“Well you know that the virus seems to mutate. Some are even saying now that it is intelligent and efforts should be made to communicate with it.” the Prime Minister stated.

“Do you believe that Charles?” The Empress asked him seriously.

“I only know that no cure has been found and the virus continues to spread your Majesty.” The Prime Minister answered simply.

“Charles prepare the Royal Ship of State and a full escort of Knights to escort me to Earth for a Royal visit, and NO Charles don’t inform the CAI of our visit. This shall be a secret visit Charles. I want this done before the CAI can prepare a proper reception. Whatever that reception is though I want the Knights to be prepared. Do we understand one another Charles.” The Empress stated with a serious growl to her otherwise pleasant voice.

“Of course your Majesty.” Charles answered.

Since a space ship could actually be any shape you wanted since you were using antigravity Empress Tocaona’s Ship of State was just a large black sphere. The CAI chose a saucer shape because of the profile it presented to the enemy we found out latter. The Empress’s ship was not designed to be landed as it was now in the cradle just outside the palace’s walls. For most state visits it was left in orbit, but it could be landed if it really became necessary in a body of water. Usually royal visits were made in the royal barge which could sepperate from the ship itself.

For this visit she had a full escort of Knights. Twelve small bubble ships magnetically attached to the outside of her ship now. Twelve armed fighters manned and ready to defend the mother ship, if worse came to worse. For some reason the Empress expected trouble on this visit. Her instincts were screaming that there was danger, but they failed to identify the source of the danger. Reason said the danger was the CAI, but her instinct, honed by a hundred generations of honorable ancestors of the Tocaona line, pointed to the danger as Earth itself. What possible danger could a single planet without even a real spaceport pose to the Empire Empress Tocaona wondered.

When the Ogomma, Empress Tocaona’s ship of state appeared on the fringes of our solar system it wasn’t long before the world knew it was there and trying to contact the CAI. The new UN and the joint generals now in charge alerted the world that the Cree were back. The Earth was divided in what to do. There were still people that wanted to surrender. Those that wanted to talk. Those that wanted to threaten, and those that wanted to fight.

The Generals chose to contact the Cree and threaten them with our new super weapon, telling them that we had the power to defend ourselves from any aggression. They even broadcasted pictures of what was left of the three original Saucers in orbit around the Earth now. After four days of repeating that message, and getting no response from the lone ship on the edge of our solar system, the Generals put together a short synopsis of what we knew of the Invasion and why we destroyed the three Saucers.

Three more days of this and the new ship began to move toward us again. It had remained silent and still had not answered any of our broadcasts. By this time the Generals had all our meager defenses turned around and aimed at the new enemy ship. The new ship chose to approach the Earth at a leisurely pace. At first it accelerated, showing us how fast it was, both the military and scientific advisors told everybody. Then it slowed down and just leisurely cruised toward us.

By the time it reached the orbit of Mars it began to broadcast.

“Peoples of Cree Colony Earth I am Empress Tocaona of the Cree Empire. It has taken me till now to learn your language. Am I to understand that you have a grievance with the Empire. That the CAI has abused you. I assure you that I am here to address your grievances. Until now both me and the Empire thought you were well treated. Now we come to find out that the CAI has evidently been lying to us all along about the conditions here. We ask to meet with your leaders to get to the bottom of all this. We await your answer.” At that point the message started repeating.

The Ogomma halted a little inside the orbit of the Moon and kept broadcasting.

The ship continued to sit there all day still broadcasting the same message on the same frequency. Finally the UN prepared an answer and asked for a hearing. The Empress agreed to send the royal barge down and bring up the Earth delegation for talks.

“Do you think She knows about the mind field.” Brigadier General Green asked Air Force General Claud Anderson on the UN’s payroll now.

“I don’t see how, but I can’t put anything past them.” He answered.

“So have you put the delegation together?” General Hatazo Akinaga of Japan asked.

“We have. We tried to chose the most stable of the Right-to-Lifeers from America and some of the doctors and scientists that worked with the CAI here on Earth and are still alive. A good cross-section of the people that actually know what the CAI was up to and a good representation of Earth I think. “ Russia General-lieutenant Sergey Usahakou formally of the FSB answered.

“Lets hope they can hammer out a deal with the Empress.” Anderson said.

“Maybe She is different from the CAI. Maybe the CIA wasn’t aware of what the CAI was doing to us. I still want to point out though that neither China nor Japan was too upset about the whole project. In fact I’m getting disturbing reports that the Chinese and the Japanese are continuing the project on their own.” Russia General-lieutenant Sergey Usahakou formally of the FSB heatedly added.

“Hey, it’s all I can do now that the President and most of his people are gone to keep the people in charge now from not nuking some of those facilities.” Anderson told Sergey.

“Look we have to be realist about this ... this ... thing now that it’s come out into the open. This “Serum” of theirs is real. It works, and it is dependent on stem cells. We have them and they want them ... NO, make that have to have them. It’s up to us to make the best deal possible.” Chinese General Xu Yuan from the Central Military Commission put in his parties position.

“I am not going to allow our children to be exploited by those damn aliens...” Anderson was cut off by Japan’s appointed General Hatazo Akinaga, who was head of this committee.

“Is not question of exploitation, is question of survival.” Hatazo, the head of the five generals chosen to lead the new UN put in.

“We have to find out what the Empire offers and make the best deal we can for everybody.” Sergey told Claud.

“I’ll do the best I can, but this is America. I’m just not sure we won’t have civil war over this.” Claud told the room.

“I guess that’s why they appointed us to oversee this transition Claud.” Sergey laughed.

<General Anderson seems to be the only weak link. Do you think he’s going to go along with the program.> Fred asked Morgan after their spying on the meeting.

“No, Claud was always a pussy. Ain’t no way he’s going to buck the so called moral majority and right now that’s the Right-to-Lifeers. We’ll just have to keep a close eye on him and limit the damage he does.” Morgan laughed.

“Do we have anybody in the people going up there?” Max asked.

<Two, Doctor July Jones, and Doctor Helen Collins.> Fred answered.

“How did we manage that?” Max laughed.

“We called in some favors with the American Right-to-Lifeers and got them appointments.” Morgan put in.

“So we’ll have representatives there.” Max finished.

The Empress’s barge was best described as a cube. A very large cube that could easily hold all one hundred delegates. It landed and ramps on all four sides slammed down and an amplified voice invited them in. Once in they were all told where to sit and buckle up. After that the doors were closed and they lifted straight up and away.

One minute the wall in front of them was a dazzling white, the next moment it was invisible giving the passenger the impression he was naked among the stars. To some it was a thrill, to others it was a nightmare. None of them had really been prepared for it.

“What was that all about.” the woman next to July asked as the walls turned dazzling white again.

“I guess it was to impress us.” July stated the obvious.