Chapter 50

The personal plane was not used and Bizet's car was in the garage. This set off a much more feverous search for portals and gates.

Houses were searched now with less regard to security. Most people were at work anyway. The apartment buildings were easier than I thought because we could search a tenanted apartment from above and below. The basements and garages were searched even more thoroughly.

The girls and the few boys ran into trouble from gangs not bothering to go to school. The gang members were not killed but most of them needed hospitalisation. Usually the confrontations were for dominance and rape so I was not overly concerned.

We found a gate mounted in a cube van left in a storage yard of a body shop. It was not active and I was hesitant about tipping my hand by taking it. Dimitri found a place that sold surveillance gear and he mounted two cameras inside the truck.

Dimitri also purchased a device for detecting radiation. We used it on the truck and got a higher than normal reading. The Church had moved one or more bombs through here at one time. I had thought of warning the French but they couldn't do much. The ship would probably be at sea and the Captain would say everything was ok even if it wasn't.

That night we were all tired. One of the banks had some silver that could be icons and Osston had to hurry over and see. Two were, but they were minor pieces and not charged.

The portal was finally found. A silver gate hidden with other silver in a goldsmith's shop was the major clue. A more thorough investigation showed a very elaborate security setup. Deep down and into the bedrock was a water filled room with a large portal at the bottom. The walls and floor had no extra radiation so the portal had to have been moved to some other location.

It was easy to see that the gate could be used to retrieve the portal and then put it away. We searched the shop extensively and found a ring, sphere and cup. The first two were icons. The key was not marked much.

Section M raced to Woodland and then Shreff to get them duplicated and then a set of copies returned. We didn't dare use them until we were ready for fear of alerting the Church.

We put everything back the way we found it and continued the search just in case. I informed Mantoya and Artlam what we had found and we prepared to make another foray into the heart of a Church.

Dimitri set up another few cameras in the shop just to be sure. It was going to take time to get this invasion set up. Tiffany had also been busy. Though confined to a chair she worked hard on the office manager. She was able to get the woman far enough under her control to answer the telephone. Key phrases were passed and it looked like we might not be discovered yet.

The manager knew little but suspected Toulon as Bizet's destination. She did know of talk about conventional military weapons but she was not involved in it at all.

The four girls that did the monitoring were called but they were now ours. Apparently they had been prostitutes that had been pickled up and given a job they could not refuse. They were all single and without encumbrances.

The students found something interesting with the radiation detector. There were a few spots in the industrial sector with some extra background radiation, it was in a warehouse that we had already searched. When this area was rechecked, we found a place that could be used to support a frame and even place it at floor level so goods could be driven through.

Dimitri spent a long time putting cameras and microphones here. This is where we would get the information about where we were going to go. Another student pointed out seven small coloured stones set in the concrete that could be used to fix a gate from memory or a coin. There were no coins or chains in this area.

Troops were stationed in Bizet's home. His children had come home and we found they were treated just like employees. From the way Bizet was at one time I figured that this was the doing of the priests.

For two days we kept constant vigil on the monitors. Teams were stationed at all times and more were ready to pounce. Because of this readiness they had to be relaced every few hours.

At a little after three local time the camera in the cube van came alive. The boys came through first and looked for enemies before the young men came through. A second chain was set up and fixed. Instantly the cameras in the gold shop picked up movement.

In the next few moments the gate was activated and the portal brought up from the water filled room. Once that was done the gate shifted to the warehouse. The heavy portal was taken through with muscle power and no fulcrums. Rope falls hidden behind an office were used for erecting the portal and getting it set into place.

One of the boys backtracked and put everything away and then stepped through the portal into the cube van, only to disappear once more. Two men of around sixty came through with a man I knew to be Bizet. Behind them was a group of men pulling a cart laden with something heavy. The van rocked as the weight was shifted until the cart went through the gate that was now fixed on the warehouse.

Now was the time to attack but we weren't ready. Dimitri whispered to me though he didn't need to, "That is only six warheads. This is what you would find on one missile. We have no idea how many have already gone to your planet or how many are yet to come. Have patients. You have the key."

The view through the portal showed a large stone lined room. This was similar to the Church building I had attacked before but this one was more or less stripped bare. There was also nothing to hide behind.

Messages were sent to Mantoya and Artlam. They were rushing units to us and I had to hope that we would have time. One of the old men and one of the younger ones returned with the soldiers and soon a second load arrived. This time an empty cart was retrieved so I knew that there were more coming.

Osston and the rest of the students were staring through the portal trying to see if they could gather enough data to anchor a gate. When the next load of nukes came through I pointed out how they had information on them. Osston figured he could do it now.

We watched as fifteen loads of bombs went through. I didn't expect more but the one old man had not returned yet. Nobody attempted to close the portal so I was content to have more time for preparation. More and more people were arriving for this major thrust.

The old man and his assistant came back and he was followed by what looked like the entire crew of the sub. The numbers climbed and climbed until twelve hundred men so came through. They had to be what a press-gang had found.

Now was the time. Four gates were quickly anchored to individual bombs. They were out of sight of the portal now. A handpicked team raced through. It was me and my security and some of the better soldiers. We were in some sort of bunker and were able to take four men using rope falls that were removing the weapons.

I threw a coin out onto the ground and a gate instantly formed around it. A truck raced through only seconds later. The rest of the team had to stay and guard the bombs. More trucks were racing through and bullets were started flying. I looked around and found the probable building the portal was in and raced for it.

The air had gotten thick with plasma but it was mostly ours. I made it to a large opening. This time I looked for fleeing priests and nailed three of them. There were a lot of French soldiers still around but they just stayed or ran to the side. They had not been given any instructions to fight us.

We found the portal open. This time the Church had allowed a priest to open a portal here that the Church didn't control. I could see bodies of the soldiers scattered here and there and some of our APC's that came through.

I was not going to take any chances and brought out two fulcrums. I stood outside the building and concentrated on the footings under the walls of the building and worked up to encompass all of it except the area near the portal. This took time but soon I was able to remove enough mass that the building started to creak. I had to take away my own mass too and it was good that I did because the building and I shot into the air. I pushed hard like Caiti did. At the count of ten, I leaned the top of the building over and took it out of the city. Just outside the walls I dropped the building while I restored my own mass.

The planet rushed towards me and so did beams of plasma. I went inertialess just before I struck the ground. Section M did this in training even though I tried to put some safety factors into play. It is good that I watched or I would have been fried while in the air.

Trucks were spreading out of the Church compound. Buildings like mine were flying away and the underground chambers were flying with them. These were the jewels I wanted intact.

Troops kept pouring in and the enclave was being ripped apart. I wanted nothing left that was near the nexus. I had not planned on this but it sounded like a good idea.

We must have brought in a hundred thousand troops and the city was soon ours. The Church had not had time to arm the citizens. It was near dark here and we fought through the night. Priests were to be shot on sight but none were seen. Either they fled or died.

Orléans was in an uproar because of the plasma beams used to take out the priests and they ones they shot back. The steel beams supporting the warehouse had been severed and the roof and walls collapsed. Digging through the mess we found some survivors but they were all hurt. Tiffany and some guards stayed at the open portal but none of the French police did anything. There were at least seventy dead or wounded sailors and we treated all that could use the help.

The people were put to one side because plasma shot through the portal many times. It had to stay open because it was our link for the gates.

When we were getting the city of Coycha stabilised, three French military officers with white flags came through the rubble.

Tiffany called Caiti and Camsa from Coycha. They came literally flying through. Caiti spoke for us when she asked the three officers, "What do you guys want here? This is a war zone."

There was some talk and one officer said, "Leave our land."

"I will when I'm ready. Now move to the side before you get killed. I'll have General Camsa talk to you. The last time a soldier got him pissed off he did a number on their ship. My advice is to be polite."

Camsa was shocked to find that he was now a General but he approached. He, like Caiti, were naked so they didn't look much like soldiers. Caiti didn't stick around but went back to ripping up portions of the building to recover bodies or aid those still alive.

Camsa floated over and stopped. His feet were high enough off the rubble to look the three in the eyes. "Hello, gentlemen. You've come at an inopportune time for a chat."

The officer that had spoken said, "What is happening here?"

I could feel something bubbling up in Camsa. He said, "I'm General Camsa of the Royal Mendabian mil — Space Marines. Who are you?"

The man was taken back because Camsa spoke loudly and leaned forward. "I'm Captain Bilodeau. Beside me are Lieutenants Vachon and Chalifour."

"Is it not normal to include an appellation, Captain?"

The man was worried enough to say, "Yes, Sir."

"Good. I have to assume that your leaders felt that you three were expendable. Now, getting to your question. The conflict on our planet has spilled over into yours. My king instructs me to inform you that we were trying to keep the damage here to a minimum."

"Who are you fighting — Sir?"

"Some followers of Ragnus. They came to Earth to acquire military weapons as we have done but they have escalated to nuclear weapons. We have removed stolen weapons from the system. What I have told you can be confirmed if you contact the Russian government. Some of your own people fell into the hands of our enemies. They had responsible positions and some technical knowledge. They were forced to remove nuclear warheads from your navy. They had no control over their actions. We are presently giving medical aid and attempting to remove the conditioning."

The three men were speechless. Camsa waited patently until the Captain said, "So this group has stolen some of our nuclear weapons?"

"We have recovered many of them but we have no idea how many were stolen. When the current conflict is over, my King instructs me to allow you to see what we have recovered."

"They belong to my country."

"They are on my world, Captain. If and when formal diplomatic relations are initiated then we can discuss this matter more. Now I want you to leave until we get this cleaned up."

"But — "

"Captain, leave now. The information you have been given can rock your country. If and when you are asked to return, bring no hidden devices. They are unethical. You may bring a camera but our people will operate it."

"When can we return, Sir."

"Someone will wave you forward. Sending the military to the portal will be viewed as an act of war and acted on."

"Yes, Sir." The men left very slowly while trying to memorise everything they saw or heard.

Coycha was a port city with a large population. Over the next few days we found that many of the people here were from Earth. Like the others, they had been shanghaied to work for the Church. Most had been encouraged to start new families. There were very few local males around that were not very old or very young.

Caiti floated over to the barriers around the destroyed warehouse in Orléans. Command buildings on wheels were all over the place. Soldiers came alert instantly and held their guns as if frightened. She didn't even have a black hat.

She settled in front of one young man and then saluted. "Well don't be so stuck up. You can salute back. I'm a soldier too."

The man was frightened but he seemed to relax. Others came running over and Caiti said, "See? We can't talk because you are worried too much."

The man didn't have a chance to say anything because Captain Bilodeau arrived and hurriedly said, "Hello — Caiti or do I call you Sir or Ma'am?"

"You can call me Captain but we can just go by first names. What's yours?"

"Guillaume is what my parents named me."

"It sounds like a good name to me."

"Thank you."

"I have a deal for you and your government."

"What is it?"

"We better walk away from ears." Caiti reached out with her hand and the man took it uncertainly. Caiti extended her perception of the envelope that was controlled by the fulcrum. Guillaume became so agitated that he let go of Caiti's hand. It didn't matter now and Caiti lifted off with her captive and flew a metre above the now cleared floor toward the portal. She alighted on the floor near the portal and released her captive. The guards at the door smiled at what they saw.

"Now, wasn't that fun?"

"It — it was interesting."

"It was a partial negation of mass and inertia. I can go weightless and even repel gravity. Sort of make some anti-mass. Good if I want to go into orbit."

"Go — go into orbit, Miss?"

"I thought I was Caiti?"

"Sorry, Caiti."

"Now let me turn so the cameras can't see my lips move." She turned away from the thousands of cameras pointed in this direction. "Well, here is the deal. Bejek has super science for some people and a very simple life for the rest. We're working up to what Earth has for the entire population but that will take a few centuries, especially when your world is going to advance too.

"Now to the request. We want a thousand laptops programmed with Linux. Each has to have a fair to good scanner for books. We need a good military generator and fuel to power everything. You better throw in a thousand desks and chairs too. In return we give you say — a half tonne of gold. You also get five tickets to see the amusement park on the other side of the portal. You can't go everywhere but you get to see the nukes and take pictures of them."

"I can't make deals like that."

"Did your bosses tell you to find out about the nukes?"

"Yes."

"Then there is no problem. Say 'yes' to the deal and you see them. Say 'no' and you don't."

"General Camsa said we could see them."

"Did he say when?"

"No. I must agree to your deal."

"Don't worry, Guillaume. They'll jump at it."

"They should."

"Then turn around and I will take you for a short trip unless you don't like going to other worlds with strange girls?"

"I think I would like that."

Captain Bilodeau was given a short tour. He saw the holes in the ground where we pulled the library and other hidden areas out. None of the bodies were seen. Caiti pointed out the red foliage. There were a lot of people around and most were nude. There was no need for clothing and women were usually not allowed to wear much anyway. The Captain began to react and had to control himself.

The two minute tour ended and Caiti brought the Captain back to Earth. "Interesting?"

"Yes, but I'm going to be questioned for hours about everything I saw."

"I can understand that. Get the deal finalised. If you think of something we have to have just bring it. This contract is vague. We want to scan documents and then use the machines to search the images."

"That is simple enough, I guess."

"WiFi is nice but I don't want you guys trying to tap into our system."

"I understand."

"Good. Then we understand each other. Do you want a lift back?"

"As much as I enjoy your company, I would rather walk."

"Then good bye for now, Guillaume."

"Bye, Caiti."

Captain Bilodeau and then Lieutenants Vachon and Chalifour formed a liaison with the French military. Guillaume came back with confirmation of the deal. Caiti carried a cube of gold about thirty centimetres on a side and put it near one of the trailers. Now it was a military problem to move it.

The family and Section M had set up a perimeter and began processing those with conditioning. The Bizet family was one of them. Étienne had survived the battle with only a few wounds. His mind had been hurt and he reminded me of Baich. I could only do so much for him. He had to want to do the rest.

The French sailors were the cream of the crop. The Church had searched out the best and got them to jump ship when the time was right. Some were dead and some hurt. I only released the bodies to the French authorities.

I dug into the rubble of the libraries and pulled out books. The French came through with the equipment and I had the shanghaied Earth Humans scan the books for me. They were at least familiar with the keyboard. The books were then taken to world 4 and hidden in the cave with the portal we found.

Osston and Stofan were run ragged looking at what was found. Much they had no idea about. The icons were the same way. There were so many new varieties that they were at a complete loss. Some articles were not up to the same par as the icons. They were artifacts from other civilisations. Some were for Humans and some were not. Many, I felt, were made here on Bejek before civilisation collapsed.

Section M people took the five people to the bombs and they photographed to their heart's content. They used devices on them to check their authenticity and some shook. Most had no safeguards other than an enclosed switch and a simple electronic timer.

There was a lot of talk to some six to eight year-old girls about the purpose of the bombs current state. Since they were all linked, the answers came out correctly.

Tiffany met the group and said, "I hope you found all of your bombs or are some still missing?"

They didn't want to talk to her so Tiffany said, "I am not going to run to the newspapers or blab this around. I am trying to trace all of the devices for both of our benefit."

One man said, "Those devices have to be returned to France. They can go off by accident."

"I will inform our king of that. Now do I get a reply to my question?"

"Those recently stolen are accounted for, but three years ago one of our missiles similarly disappeared. It was done much more crudely as if the person had the power but not the finesse."

"Six?"

"Yes."

"We need some of the instruments to detect the bombs. Perhaps they don't know how to detonate missile warheads as bombs."

"Who are these followers of Ragnus?"

"We have a written statement for you. It doesn't answer everything but we are searching for a lot of the answers ourselves."

"What about our people that are held here illegally."

"I don't like your tone, Sir. I can expel you very quickly even if I am missing some limbs. I will not be gentle, either."

"I'm sorry, it's our duty to locate all of our people. We would like to know their location and condition."

"The followers of Ragnus did things to the minds of those they captured. Most will recover but some were deeply conditioned. Even we have problems with these. We will rehabilitate them and also use their knowledge and skills for a short period of time. It sort of pays for our work."

"We have some very famous psychiatrists."

"No offence intended but I understand more about this facet of medicine than any doctor on Earth and I'm not the most educated in this, either."

"But you're Human?"

"Yes, and so are the natives of Bejek. There has been a small amount of drift but that is common among isolated groups, even on Earth. Earth Humans can learn just as fast or as slow as those on Bejek. Since you know about me, how are my parents doing? I didn't phone before because of every Tom, Dick, and Claude listening in on what I said."

"They are being pestered by reporters."

"If I may ask, what function does Shelly Driscott do for the government?"

"He's an administrator. He works with the army and intelligence. He's on the war council. You know that we were into procurement."

"What about you, Miss Hastings?"

"I'm married to the man, for better or worse. I guess he got the bad part of the deal, but anyway, I help Hugh do what has to be done. He's smart sometimes and dumb sometimes but he knows enough to listen to those around him."

"Would you clarify what you have done to the Russian and American sailors?"

"I guess I can. The Americans were recruited. Once agreed, they were given a small amount of conditioning. Your country did the same to you but it was done a different way."

The man said nothing. Tiffany went on. "The Russians were playing a game with us. They wanted us to believe that the men on the two ships were our employees. While they were very competent sailors and fighters they were in fact working for the Russian authorities. We needed the ships and the men so we gave them the same conditioning. In a year the conditioning will have worn off and they will be allowed to return home. They may choose to stay here without conditioning unless they are in the military."

"Can they make a responsible choice when that time comes?"

"We use the bare minimum of conditioning on most. Vasiliy and Vasya Berzin and Dimitri, who is known as Dimitrievich Sakharov but is really Ilya Chernovol, are different. They got a bit more conditioning just because they were such good agents for the FSB. Since then the conditioning has weakened on both men and we have not reinforced it. Ilya Chernovol we call Dimitri. He's in charge of the navy. Vasiliy is working hard to help us because he wants to get into space.

"We have the raw power to push a mountain into space but we don't have the engines yet. You know about our shields but you don't know that they are able to be configured to what the wearer wants. So far, we have not been able to get them to do much. We are aiming at producing a shield suitable for long trips in space."

"France has some very good engineers."

"I know they do. The paper you have doesn't list our goals beyond the suppression or destruction of our enemy. We want the natives of Bejek to be able to handle all the tools we are able to find. This gives one person the power to do great harm. Our research has shown that only three quarters of the population can do this and I expect those from Earth will be the same. Over enough time everybody may be able to do this. To control the devices requires that a person's mind grows. We can speak to each other mentally the same way you can use your voice."

The men didn't look happy. Tiffany smiled and said, "It isn't like that. I can shield my thoughts. I can't read your thoughts because your mind has not grown. Once it has, you could block me out. It is the same as your voice except for a short period when you are learning how to handle the ability."

"How do I know — that you are telling me the truth?"

"I didn't have to tell you anything at all. I gave you information. Simply keep an open mind until you find out for sure."

"Will the people of France learn this?"

"No, but the people of Earth will. Your politicians may balk at this because if they are asked to open their minds the voters will see the truth. Not a pretty sight I'm afraid."

"Will we get your shield and other tools?"

"Yes, but we haven't found all the devices yet or what all of them do. Some may be like the nukes and need to be held by responsible people."

"What time frame do you see?"

"Both of our planets are threatened by the same people. We have to pull their fangs. When that is done, we will bring in a few thousand students from Earth and see how they work. The next year we take a lot more and the year after that even more. We have to build up the infrastructure to accommodate not only our own people but those from Earth as well."

"Earth people are yours, too."

"I've emigrated. I think I am Human first, then a citizen of Bejek. You pushed France, I'm pushing Humans with a bit extra from people on this world because we are so far behind you."

"We could send in workers to put up buildings and even supply teachers."

"We'd be swamped. Better to go slowly, especially at first."

The Frenchmen stayed for a few hours until Tiffany kicked them out. I only heard about this after the fact. I was almost four hundred klicks away looking at one of the oldest Church cities on Bejek.

I was far from alone. Besides my security, there was Dimitri and Vasiliy representing the Russians. Cabot and Jamieson, two of the Americans, and then there were two of the recently shanghaied French. Croteau and Sirois were not quite up to what the Russians were but they were supposed to be good at fighting. Artlam and Mantoya were here to represent Bejek. Jonna and Lauren were here to make sure I came home.

It was hard to communicate. We used English but not everybody was as fluent in it as they should be. Mantoya said, "This place is a real fortress. This must have been erected when there were a lot of wars."

I said, "It looks like it. Those walls are thick and I see sentries at the top." There were sentries all over. This was Sennis. It was near mythological in name when I talked to those on Bejek. The only city with more reverence was the city of Kallos Island, the island was named after it.

Sennis must be home to a few million people. The city proper was within the mighty walls and perhaps had a quarter to an eighth of the population. It was hard to tell. The plateau the city rested on was packed with buildings, including large homes. The johnny-come-lately's had to put up homes on the slopes of the mountain and down to the hills and flat land below. The majority chose the more level plains surrounding the upthrust of rock.

The mighty Svitch River flowed from a nearby range of mountains. There was a spectacular waterfall and four major rapids before it was channelled to flow completely around the city to make it an island. Fourteen gleaming bridges spanned the river and they all looked good even though some were reputed to be almost as old as the city.

The city was reputed to be ten thousand years old but the books we took from the library in Coycha said it was a lot closer to six thousand. The Church had pilgrims coming here all the time and from a sampling they all left with a modicum of Church control on their thinking.

The library had given us much more information but there was little time to evaluate it. The Church still had six nuclear warheads and enough trained Human captives to convert them to six deadly bombs.

The Church had kidnapped thousands of people recently. Usually they were soldiers but engineers were included. They came from all walks of life and from many countries. From the looks of the operation, this had been started a few decades ago. Not everybody had to emigrate right away but they had to gather Earth technology and prepare to leave when they were called. In some cases the youngsters chosen were much older before they were forced to come to a collection point.

At the moment there were a lot of world famous nuclear physicists that suddenly went missing on Earth, as well as a lot of military engineers that specialised in nuclear bombs. They came from most of the countries that produced these weapons but the majority were Russian, American, and Chinese.