Chapter 92

"Actually we have two problems Jack. First, it has just come to my attention that Xing has already been tricked. Therefore it will currently be impossible for you to trick her.

Second, a message from the Aliens has just arrived and it is asking us - Jim, Bones, and myself to minimize all activities not involving security. We weren't directed to stop the activities, but were directed to place our alert status on a higher plane and to make sure we could stop all activities except defense on a second's notice," Scotty said.

This was a shocker to say the least. The snafu with Xing was troubling, but I was sure we could work around it. The heightened alert status could only mean trouble from Aliens other than the ones we knew. I had to know more.

"What is the cause of the heightened alert level?" I asked.

"Apparently an attack on another system is giving the drone there some difficulty. I didn't get many details, but from what I did get it seems the attack is from multiple vessels and their shielding is much more efficient than we have previously encountered. The report states it is not close to the robustness of our shielding, but it is strong enough to cause real problems.

Two StarCruisers are en-route to aid the drone and should arrive within six hours. The drone has reported it can maintain the defense for that long at least and possibly for twice that time," Scotty told me.

"How close are these attacks to us Scotty?" I asked.

"Thousands of parsecs. A StarCruiser would need days to travel from that system to this one. We are in no danger from the attackers there, however, they might not be the only group of attackers with the new shielding technology," he said.

"That isn't very comforting. Are there other plans to increase our defenses?" I asked.

"Not currently. The Aliens feel we are safe enough here for the time being. They think the higher alert status will be sufficient. They are considering stationing more drones here later unless they immediately determine the source of this new threat," he told me.

"I suppose it's the best we can hope for. It is a little troubling though," I said.

"It is more troubling than you probably know. This is the first time a single drone has not been able to deal with a threat without help," Scotty informed me.

"I guess you should send me back to the ranch then. I can't help you up here. Please keep me informed though," I told him.

Nancy was surprised to see me back in the kitchen. She gave me the funniest look.

"What in the hell are you doing back here?" she asked.

"There are two new developments Nancy," I replied.

I gave her a rundown of the new information. She was curious about the attack but even more curious about Xing.

"I wonder who's been dicking your girl Jack. Did Scotty give you any of the details?" she asked.

"No and I don't want to bother him about it now. He could probably tell me without it being a bother, but I think this attack thing should come first. Even if I have to take out the trash myself," I told her.

"Ain't that the gospel? Nothing like a few motherfuckers in space ships planning an attack to bring home the real job Scotty, Jim, and Bones are here to do. Hell we can take care of things down here if they can make sure we don't have any uninvited conquerors making a visit," Nancy said.

"You're right Nancy. I'll admit I feel guilty about the time I've wasted now. I should have been preparing for something like this all along," I said.

"Bullshit Jack. I hate to let you off the hook, but you couldn't have done shit about this. The Aliens know thousands of times more about weapons in space than you do and they won't even give you access to any of that technology.

"You can hardly be expected to make a leap of thousands of years of knowledge and defend against weapons you don't even understand," she told me.

"I know, but it just seems like I should be able to. It's hard on me to just sit here and let the Aliens take care of our defenses," I said.

"What you had better be worrying about is something that you can fix. You know damned well you can't have Xing running around building up China without supervision. Especially since we now know someone else could be pulling the strings.

"You realize I'm going to give you hell if she was just recently tricked when you know you should have done it weeks ago," Nancy reminded me.

"I know Nancy. I'm wondering about that myself. Surely if she'd been tricked for very long we would have already known about it and I know I asked Scotty to make sure no one was using the trick unless I knew about it. I'm going to have to quiz him about that as soon as the danger is over," I said.

"The time will come for that later, in the meantime go into your office and see if you can get some work done on something else. You and I will both go nuts sitting in here wondering what went wrong when there is no way we could have known about any of it," she said.

She had a point there. I went into my study and then changed my mind and went to my office at the hotel. I didn't even want to bother Scotty with that and I had the robot take me in the big limo.