Chapter 10

Day 6

It didn’t take them long to get the drones on board. Soon they were back in their shuttles, and heading towards Earth. Penny felt disappointed that John wasn’t with her to kiss her again. She was so focused on that, she took off without a thought of being nervous. Had anyone been in the cockpit with her, they would have seen the smile on her lips as she remembered their first kiss.

Sam and Tammera were piloting the two extra shuttles and John was in the Valkyrie. ‘Better to have them and not need them, than to need them and not have them’, as the saying goes. He wasn’t taking the ship down as a weapon, but more as a precaution. He had racks for stretchers installed in the Valkyrie as well. He, too, could move people. He didn’t have the capacity that a shuttle had, of course. He could only handle about two hundred. Each of the shuttles could hold three hundred. If Sam’s numbers were right, it would take only one trip to each compound.

John had the others wait in high orbit, as he went in and dropped the drones off at the first compound. He then flew to the other compound, to drop drones there. He put the ship into anti-grav hover, just above tree top level over the first compound. He didn’t have to wait long for the others, after he told them they could come down using his beacon for nav-coordinates.

There wasn’t enough room to set down all seven ships. John devised a plan where, when he gave the ‘all clear’, each shuttle’s pilot and drones would disembark. Sam and Tammera would keep the spare shuttles in a hover over the compound, while everyone else loaded one shuttle at a time. It was a good thing each ship had its own miniature construction drone, because four of them were instantly busy building the holo-drones needed to make John’s plan work.

John set the Valkyrie down as far away from the building as he could. The area closest to the building was the space the shuttles would have to land. He approached the warehouse. The part of his brain he associated with martial arts was screaming for him to be cautious. John gave a casual look around. He saw nothing out of order, other than the guards he had to drag out of the area where the shuttle would be landing.

John entered the building. It was not well lit. He was passing glass panels that allowed him to see the offices of the building. His eyes told him that no one was in sight as he passed them. He continued on, heedless of the voice in his head that kept advising caution. Just as he was ready to tell it to shut up, a door burst open about two meters further down the hall, and to his left.

John had enough time to take in the huge man’s size, and the automatic weapon the man carried as he staggered into the hall. John wasn’t sure what kind of weapon it was, because he didn’t know weapons. He knew for sure it wasn’t an M16 or Uzi. He had seen enough of them in the movies, to be able to recognize them. Maybe an AK-47 his mind supplied. It didn’t matter, as the man must have noticed John. The gun he was holding was coming around in John’s direction.

A clinical part of his mind took note that time had suddenly slowed down. Another part of his brain told him that time was moving as it always had, but he was moving faster. The sudden release of adrenaline had pushed John into a hyper-sensory state. The clinical part of his mind said it didn’t matter. John could almost see the know-it-all part of his mind cross its arms and ‘harrumph’.

The most important part of his mind had John moving in a forward roll toward the man. When John came up both dotrezz were in his hands. The blades were extended and energized, and his left arm came upward. The edge of the blade in that hand pointed toward the ceiling.

The clinical part of John watched in amazement as the blade sliced cleanly through the rifle, starting at the banana clip, and continuing upward. When the front half of the gun fell away, the clinical side took note of the rounds that had been sliced in two, and the gunpowder that was spilling out. He wondered why the energy infused blade hadn’t ignited the gunpowder causing the weapon to explode.

The know-it-all part snickered, and explained that though the blade was infused with energy, it did not produce enough heat to ignite the gunpowder. The part that John thought of as his ‘original self’, would be totally unaware of this interaction until later, when his mind would collate the information.

The ‘John’ part of him was focused on his body’s motion. After his left-hand blade had severed the gun, removing that threat; he raised up on the ball of his left foot. His right leg swung out in an arc, effectively pivoting his entire body. The blade in his right hand gave out a sizzling noise as it sliced through the air.

When he planted his right foot, he had moved slightly behind the man. His right arm continued using the momentum, and rose slightly. John realized just as the blade struck the man’s neck, what was going to happen. The blade sliced though, completely severing the man’s head from his neck.

John watched as the head tumbled to the floor, followed by the collapsing body a moment later. John was surprised by the lack of blood. In the movies it would have been squirting everywhere. The know-it-all supplied the answer by explaining that the energy infused blade tended to cauterize as it moved through living flesh, in spite of not generating heat. The blades snicked as they retracted, and John looked down at the dotrezz. Why hadn’t he used them as a baton? His personal Sensei told him that he had viewed the weapon in the man’s hands, as one that was used for lethal force, therefore the response had been in like fashion.

The incident did serve to put John on his guard. He searched the bathroom the man had come out of, and found no one else. He dragged the man’s body into the bathroom, and tossed its head in afterward. No need for the others to see it. Still, he had been treating this as more of a game than a serious undertaking.

In a low stealthy crouch, John went room by room through the offices, searching every room that was sealed off from the main warehouse area. When that part of his mind that had been advising caution assured him all was clear, he told the others they could come in. John decided to busy himself by dragging the gassed guards into one of the offices. When a drone brought him a stretcher after he had moved the first one, he felt like a fool for not having thought of it before.

Things were quickly organized. Penny and Martha worked as a team, Brian and Paul worked separately. The drones did quite a bit. John noticed that Penny and Martha were trying to lift one of the few men who were hostages, onto a stretcher.

He walked over, easily picked the man up, and set him on the stretcher. This got an appreciative look from Penny and Martha. John told them to focus on the women and the children. The rest of them would get the men. He had to change that when he saw both Brian and Paul each struggling separately to get a man on a stretcher.

John wondered if this had something to do with the added muscle mass Sam said he would be gaining. He helped them both, and had them focus on the women and children as well. It took less time than John had thought it would. With all of them working together, they had everyone loaded in just two hours. Time was getting away from him. He called Martha and Paul, and told them they were to head back and unload first. They were to be there for the Simmons’, when they awoke.

John asked Sam if she and Tammera could handle the two extra shuttles. Sam said there would be no problem, as Adam was handling everything else. So it was that five filled shuttles were quickly on their way to the moon. There were sixty-three ‘sleepers’ on the final shuttle, and the Valkyrie was empty.

John headed to the next compound. He looked things over closely before landing. At this location, they would have an easier time managing the shuttles, as there was a huge parking lot adjoining the building. They could have several shuttles on the ground at the same time. This warehouse was bigger than the last, so he decided to get started right away.

With dotrezz in hand, he went room by room, checking for any guards that might be conscious. He found several guards in the outer areas, but they were all unconscious. He wondered if the drones had realized this, and sprayed the area; or if given a little more time, the gas infiltrates all areas. It was a question that really wasn’t that important, but he was curious about it.

John set the drones to work, not realizing that he was giving them commands using his implant. It did help in getting everything organized and accomplished, though. Even though Paul and Martha were absent this time, the shuttles were loaded and on the way back to the moon more quickly, and with more people than the first time.

Sitting at John’s desk, Sam gave him the final numbers. They had rescued three thousand, three hundred, and forty-eight people. Of those, six hundred and twenty-eight were men. Eight hundred and nine were children, between the ages of infant and eleven. Five hundred and six children were boys. Three hundred and four were between the ages of twelve and sixteen, of which one hundred and sixty-two were boys. The remaining sixteen hundred and seven were women, between the ages of seventeen and thirty-six.

At first he wondered why none of the women were older. He then realized that many of these women were probably the part-time mistresses to cartel members. The cartel members probably kept their family members close to them, so that this wouldn’t happen to them. He thanked Sam, and began to ponder what to do with these people. His options seemed to be rather limited.

John approached Dennis and Sandra, who were sitting in the community dining area. He hoped that Sandra might be able to give him some insight as to how he should handle his new guests. He started by apologizing for not having been there to greet them when they woke. It was all he could do not to blurt out what he knew about their daughter. He would talk to Brian first, and give the opportunity for him and Julie to come forward. Sandra’s voice brought him back to the couple.

“Paul told us you had mounted a rescue mission of sorts, and you had sent him and Martha back to the moon, so that there was someone familiar here, when we woke up. I must admit that it was a totally disorienting experience to wake up, looking and feeling younger. The weight loss for me was quite a surprise. I really hadn’t noticed the extra pounds that had crept up on me.”

John wondered how much of the weight was the cancerous tumor that Adam had removed. It was odd. ‘Transporter’ technology was feasible. It would work on removing something like the tumor, though only after being reduced to as small a cellular mass as possible. However, the same technology would not work on a person. He understood enough about the physics to know that the computing capacity and power demands made using it on living beings totally unfeasible. John figured it went back to all those years of watching Star Trek that made it so believable in his mind. He pulled himself back from his mental wanderings, yet again.

Sandra playfully hit her husband and said, “You should have said something about me putting on all that extra weight.”

Dennis then did the smartest thing John had ever seen any man do: he kept his mouth shut, and looked as innocent as possible.

Sandra turned her attention back to John and said, “Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I thought it was quite a noble thing you did, rescuing those people from the cartels. It is hard telling what would have been done to them.”

John had decided after his honesty with Paul the previous night that he was going to be as honest as he could be with everyone on the base.

“I don’t know how noble you will think I am, when I tell you that I was the cause for those people being held hostage to begin with.”

Sandra wrinkled her brow, and Dennis suddenly looked at him with suspicion.

“How so?” she asked voicing the question that seemed to be on Dennis’ mind.

So John told the two of them all of it: how it had all started because he felt he needed money. He further explained that he and Sam looked at the odds and played them, how they had nearly lost over three thousand people, and how all of those people had been brought to the base without their consent. He summed up by explaining that he planned to give each and every one of them the option of staying, or being relocated with a new identity.

Apparently Paul and Martha had filled them in on everything, because Sandra asked, “Why don’t you just use your pheromones on them. If my understanding of Paul’s explanation is correct, then if you focus on wanting them to stay and help save the planet; most, if not all of them, are going to agree.”

“First, we aren’t sure what it is that I am producing...”

Sandra interrupted him by saying, “‘If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck; it’s probably a duck.’ In this case I have named that duck: ‘pheromones’.”

John decided that the terminology, wasn’t a big enough issue to argue over, and it was a hell of a lot simpler to say ‘pheromones’ than ‘organic airborne particulate contaminants’.

“Okay, although I must admit I hadn’t considered using my ‘pheromones’. It seems like that would be cheating ... forcing people to do things against their wills. That ... well, it just doesn’t feel right.”

Dennis spoke for the first time and said, “John if I had any doubts about you being a good person, you just removed them. I know you see these people as innocents. Paul told us as much, but I want you to realize something. If you could get those people to talk to you honestly, I doubt you would be able to find more than a handful that were completely ignorant of the source of money in their lives, and most of those would be very young children. If you send any of these people back to the planet, they will find a way to gravitate toward the same type of person you just saved them from.”

That actually helped settle a lot of questions and feelings for John. It did make a weird sort of sense. Since these people had spent most if not all of their lives exposed to this sort of environment, if not involved in it; then given the opportunity, they would seek it out again.

“I do have a question, though,” Sandra said as soon as she was sure her husband was finished. “What exactly was it, that you were wanting the money for? You can have just about anything. I guess I just can’t envision what would be so important that you would put these people’s lives in danger. If you needed money, why not replicate a few diamonds or some gold or platinum? Surely that would have been as easy as what you attempted.”

John could see that Dennis had a ready answer, so he nodded in his direction.

“Sweetheart; the economy of our country, hell the whole word, is just barely stable. I get the feeling that John wanted quite a bit of available cash. Suddenly flooding the market with that amount of diamonds or precious metals, could have destabilized the entire world’s economy.”

“That’s why I was looking for alternatives,” John said. “Now, to answer your first question; I was having Sam look into large tracts of land in Montana, Wyoming, and Nevada. I even had her searching for an island in the Pacific that might be for sale. Now I’m beginning to believe it was all a pipe dream.”

“That only tells us about half of the story,” Dennis said. “There has to be a more to it than just wanting to purchase some property. Why don’t you tell us what you were planning to do with the land after the purchases?”

“Okay,” John said with a heavy sigh. “It was my idea to have a place, or a community, maybe even a commune, where people could go. It would be a place where they could start the transition from our planet, or more precisely our planet’s technology. The community would be using more advanced technology, but only that which I allowed to be there. After they made that adjustment, then they would come here to the base, or to one of the ships that will be built. There would be much less ‘cultural shock’, that way.”

“And now you don’t see that as a viable option?” asked Sandra.

“An island might work, if it wasn’t under the control of any government, and if an effective way could be found to defend it. But that is why I now understand that the land-based ideas won’t work. Can you imagine what would happen, if any of the Earth’s governments got their hands on the technology that we will, on a daily basis, be using?”

“You sound a bit overly paranoid, if you ask me. Surely it can’t be that bad? You almost sound like one of those conspiracy theorists.”

“Oh, really? What if I told you that because of an oversight, until yesterday, you could have gone to any of the replicators anywhere on the base. You could have asked for, and received, any type of weaponry up to and including a class 8 anti-matter warhead. If you are wondering what one of those can do ... A single Class 8 warhead would destroy half of the planet, and send what was left careening off into space. Zero chance for any survivors. It took a teen-aged boy who was joking around, who asked for and received a laser rifle from the replicator, to make me take notice. Does that sound like a conspiracy theory? I have since put Command Overrides on the replicators. Objects beyond ‘general needs’, have to be approved by me.”

Sandra and Dennis both paled considerably. They were both aware of whom the teen aged boy had to be. If it hadn’t been such a serious oversight on John’s part, he might have seen some humor in the fact that Sandra and Dennis were wearing expressions similar to that, which had been on Brian face, when the replicator had produced the rifle.

“Back to the issue of the Command Overrides,” John said to bring the couples attention back to him. “Given enough time and determination, someone could figure out how to bypass them. Do you really want something like that in the hands of any of the governments of our planet? The same governments who have a tentative peace, based on the fear of mutual destruction? The only reason we are still around, is that they are all afraid to be the first to ‘push the button’. I love my country and all that it once stood for, but ‘the people’ no longer run our country, if they ever did. Big money does. Large corporations do. Oil companies do.”

John, realizing that he was beginning to preach in the realm of political beliefs, reeled himself back in.

Sandra, who recovered first from the knowledge John had just given them, asked.

“So are you just going to give up on this idea? It would seem that there should be a way to make it work.”

“I agree,” Sam said from behind John, startling him.

“It almost sounds like you have an idea,” John said with a half smile.

“Actually, I do. It is based on our conversation of this morning. Why don’t we make our own ‘Atlantis’? We can make it into anything we want it to be. If we have a shield that acts like a protective dome, we wouldn’t have to worry about any other defensive weapons. All we would have to figure out is a way to screen everyone that comes to the island. Maybe if we can find enough people with telepathy, they can do the screening.”

“You know, John, Sam may have just solved your other problem as well,” Sandra offered. “With a place like that, the people who want to return to the planet would have a place to go, to live out their lives usefully. I don’t think any criminal element will be able to find a way onto or into your island paradise, either. Not with telepathic screening.”

“Yeah, but how long would it take? It sounds like a lengthy pain in the ass.”

“It wouldn’t be that bad, John. Using Plato’s stories in both the Critias, and the Timæus, I can come up with a rough idea of what the island he described would look like. In my opinion, the island would look like a bull’s-eye from an orbital view.

“Of course in the center, where the temple of Poseidon was supposed to have been sitting, you could put the administration center. From there the island would have the three concentric circles of land expanding from that center, with the outer one being the widest. The outer ring would actually make up most of the landmass.

“The whole island would appear circular. The wide outer area should have the fertile plains that Plato described, though I suggest that we make it a lot bigger than Plato’s Atlantis. The center of the island can match his description to a T. However, I am thinking of a continent that is around twelve hundred miles across. Of course we can’t forget the water access channel that ran through to the center,” Sam said.

She gave a light laugh, but continued, “I believe the logical place for it to resurface, would be centered north-and-south, on the Tropic of Cancer. It would be centered east-and-west, between the Windward Islands and the Cape Verde Islands. Of course, there will need to be a mountain chain on the southeastern coast, towards the Cape Verde side. This will disrupt the Trade winds airflow, and about 80% of all hurricanes would be prevented from forming.

“The climate will be temperate to tropical, and will promote healthy crop growth. It is one of the areas where Atlantis was rumored to have been, anyway. If we wanted, we could increase the strength of the shield generators to create a one hundred mile ‘no fly zone’ without infringing on our neighbors’ territory.

“Furthermore, if we wanted, we could extend the no fly zone down into the depths of the ocean. That would make it a ‘no submarine’ zone, as well. Of course that would not stop satellite surveillance, but we have to let them have something, or they will destroy the planet while they try to destroy us.”

John looked at Sam and realized two things. The first thing being that this was a completely independent idea. This was not something he had asked her to come up with, but was an original idea. The other was that he could see that she was truly excited about this. Since that was the case, he decided he was going to leave all of the details up to her. If in the end, she felt she needed his final approval, he would look everything over. But he hoped she would do this on her own. He was drawn back as Sam continued her dissertation.

“We build an AI about the size of Adam. His mainframe would almost fit onto one of the shuttles. So we just modify the size of the mainframe, and waterproof a shuttle. The AI would sink to the bottom of the ocean, where the drones we drop off from another shuttle would build an energy shield generator. Then we activate the shield, creating an underwater dome. We displace all the water, and leave a large underwater work area. It would be totally out of the view of any nosy neighbors, until it was raised to the surface.”

Sam looked at everyone at the table, once she saw that her idea was being accepted as a good one, so she continued.

“From that point on, we would have to have no other involvement with the AI. Well, not when it came to Atlantis, anyway. Updates and communication to keep him from getting lonely would be a must. We could even go down for visits, to get away from things, after the underwater ‘work area’ surface is complete. The AI wouldn’t need help until it started building the continental structure that would slowly push the surface out of the water. At that point, a lot of water is going to be displaced, and will have to go somewhere.”

John looked at her with a sideways grin and said, “You have an idea for that, too, don’t you?”

“Let’s say it’s a half-formed idea. I know that water is essential for life, but I remember reading that water wouldn’t stay on Mars because there was no atmosphere. Surely there must be a way to get it there, and store it; if for no other reason than future use ... though if necessary, we could always replicate water, I suppose.”

“Well, we could always haul it to Mars, just to see what would happen,” John said. “But as you said, if we need it later, we can always replicate it. It would be an interesting experiment. I would suggest, however, that we release some of the oxygen contained in the water, and ship off the rest. We will have some time to make those decisions, though,” John said musingly.

He looked at Sam and could tell that this was something she really wanted. She had really wanted to discover the sunken remnants and this was her chance to create what she had envisioned that place to be.

“Okay, Sam,” John resumed after his pause to consider it, “you have convinced me. I want you to go ahead with the project.”

“Me? I couldn’t! I shouldn’t! You should!” Sam stammered.

“Sam, by the sound of it, you already have a good idea of what should be done. You have already outlined a good plan. I’m going to put you in charge of this. It would take too much time to bring me up to speed on everything you’ve just outlined. Time away from the other things that I need to concentrate on. But above all else, I am giving this project to you, because I trust you.”

Sam still didn’t look convinced as she nodded her head uncertainly.

“Sam,” John said to bring her attention back to him. “I think you should add one more thing to your scenario. You and I have both read stories about Atlantis’ advanced technology. I think in this case we should give the people what they want. Let the satellites see the technology at work. I don’t care how ‘classified’ they try to keep it, the images will leak. Look at the number of pictures that exist of Area 51.”

“John, won’t revealing superior technology encourage hostilities? Shouldn’t we worry about some sort of attack, what if they launch their nuclear weapons?”

“Firstly, you and I know that their nuclear weapons won’t work. Secondly, if a country launches, everyone else will know about it. If worst comes to worst, then we have additional non-organic material to work with.”

Sam nodded. It made complete sense, though it didn’t rule out the attempted use of biological weapons. She chose not to mention this to John in such an unsecured environment. Not that she felt that Dennis or Sandra would leak the information. It was more that this fell in the category of a military situation, which meant she would mention it to John privately.

John looked at Sam intently and said, “Since I mentioned Area 51, there is something I want to ask you. We don’t have to make a trip down to the planet to get the information on Area 51, do we?”

Sam looked down at the floor, and shook her head.

“Okay, here is what I want you to do. Scan everything. Take pictures. Search their computers. I want to know everything that they know. I would like for you to give it to me at the update, tomorrow.”

“John, I can have a report for you this evening, if you wish.”

“Not at this time, Number One. I want a very detailed report with 3D depictions, and everything.”

Sam smiled came to attention, and saluted.

“Yes, Sir. I will make it so.”

Sandra had been waiting patiently for the exchange to end and saw her opening.

“John, why won’t the nukes work?”

John was unable to stifle the laughter that came out. It was Sandra’s furrowed brow that brought him back.

He hooked a thumb over his shoulder at Sam.

“Sam was acting on a request that the nukes not launch. When she saw that it wasn’t feasible to make it where they wouldn’t launch, she removed all of the radioactive material from the warheads.”

With her brow still furrowed she asked, “And that means what?”

Sam took over the explanation.

“The planet’s nuclear weapons depend on conventional explosives to initiate the nuclear blast. Most of them use an altimeter as a triggering device. In most cases the concussion blast from the detonation of the conventional explosives would do minimal damage, depending on the altitude it was set at to explode. There might also be some shrapnel that would cause damage; but the bottom line is, that if the nuclear blast constitutes 100% of the damage and deaths that would normally occur, then we are looking at five to ten percent of that figure, at the most pessimistic.”

Sandra nodded her head, though she looked very thoughtful

John turned his attention back to the problem at hand. He had to come up with a way to address his new Columbian wards. He didn’t have much time, either. Unless he wanted to gas them again, and he really didn’t want to do that, they would all start waking soon. He didn’t want them to panic. Since he was devoid of ideas, he turned to Sandra.

“Do you have any ideas as to how I should handle the people from Columbia? I mean, I can speak the language, so that isn’t going to be a problem. But when we put them to sleep, they were hostages. Now, they may no longer be hostages, but they are in a new and unfamiliar place. They are soon going to find out that they are effectively trapped on the moon, artificial gravity or no.”

“I still think that it is as much you saying it, while they are exposed to your pheromones, as it is what you say. If the pheromones work as well as the suppositions about them suggest, then what you say will have little bearing. Your focus at the time will have the impact. I do understand that you want to say something. Introduce yourself not only by name, but also as the man who got them away from impending peril. Remember also that you have not one group, but two opposing groups. And before, they were not friendly toward one another. Stay focused, though, and everything should work out.”