Bright Horizons (9 page)

“Business.
The Iltia’cor fleet is about to warp into this system. We will be shutting down
all operations until they are gone. This means, of course, that we may be
shutting down operations permanently if they are successful. The reason I came
was on the off chance that they are not successful. If they fail to capture
your planet, or if they find the cost to keep your planet too high, they will
leave your system and we can begin work again on Mars. If that happens, we hope
you will become a customer of ours. If enough of you are left alive.”

“So
you just want to see what the outcome of the coming war is before you make your
move?”

“Yes,
Colonel.”

“Is
there any technology that would help us before they arrive?”

“Yes,
and I might be willing to sell it to you, but there would be no time to train
any of your people on how to use it.”

“Then
why show up at all? Why not just let the war happen and make your decision
then?”

“Trust.
If I had shown up after the war, assuming you win, you might think I was an
agent of the Iltia’cor rather than a neutral observer.”

“Why
shouldn’t I think you work for them now and you are only here to gain my
trust?”

Smith
seemed a bit taken aback by this. “I underestimated your cynicism, Colonel. I
don’t know how to prove myself.”

Kyle
smiled. “You may have just done that Mister Smith. If you had planned to trick
me, you would have likely had an answer for that question.”

“You
are a dangerous man Colonel Martin. I would very much like…”

“Colonel,”
Kitch interrupted. “We have a signal from the Neptune probe. The Iltia’cor
ships are entering the system.”

Kyle
turned back to his station leaving Smith hanging in mid-sentence. “Keltner,
this is Martin, what is the estimate?”

“Getting
the figures back any second sir. Hold on, almost there. Good Lord… we are
getting a reading of… 41 hours til Earth orbit.”

“Almost
precisely what the Hedali predicted it would take once they hit our system.”

“Sir?”

“Go
ahead Keltner.”

“That’s
close to 100,000,000 kilometers an hour or close to 10% of the speed of light.
What are we dealing with Colonel?”

“Nothing
we can’t handle Keltner. You just let me know if there is any change.”

Kyle
turned to Kitch and said “I have an idea, get the data we have from Neptune and
get it to General Moseved. It might convince him and get the Russians moving
quicker. Send it to The Hague, the UN, Beijing and Delhi as well.”

“Sir,
this is classified data, do we have the authority to send it out?”

“I
don’t know, but it’s my responsibility.”

“Yes,
sir.”

“Colonel
Martin, I know you are busy. I will return before the Iltia’cor start their
attack. I’ll let myself out,” Smith said as he stood.

Kyle
watched him leave and turned back to his screen.

Chapter 10

27 January
2043

“The attack
on Earth did not go as the Iltia’cor planned. Exactly four minutes after their
fleet established Earth orbit, the Iltia’cor fleet around earth started their
bombardment of all major military installations on earth. The time of the start
of the assault was 1821 Greenwich Mean Time on January 12
^th
. By 1838
the bombardment had stopped and the Iltia’cor assault vessels started their
decent towards approximately fifty three hundred urban areas around the
planet.”

Kyle
never took his eyes off the screen as he once again narrated the sequence of
events. He was in his Marine uniform, but a star sat where his bird had so
proudly perched for years. The promotion ceremony was short and hastily
arranged, and had ended just about an hour before.

“Individual
landing pods separated approximately two minutes later, and by 1843 Iltia’cor
soldiers started moving out of the pods and assaulting Human cities, towns,
villages and settlements. We estimate approximately one point four million Iltia’cor
soldiers left the pods. We believe that they were not expecting the type of
resistance that many places around the world demonstrated. In some countries,
they were successful in pacifying the local population for a short while, but
in most places around the world, especially those in areas where the populace
is well armed, they met disaster. By our estimation 97% of Iltia’cor soldiers
in Switzerland and Israel never made it back to their landing pod. In a suburb
of Tel Aviv, we have seen verified reports that some Israelis boarded and
captured one of the landing pods. We are in negotiations with their government
to get a peek inside.”

Images
of destruction from around the world punctuated the calm demeanor and voice of
Kyle and the charts and graphs that made up the bulk of the presentation.

“In
the major American cities, Iltia’cor casualties reached close to 80%, and in
some rural communities in the U.S. their losses were much higher. As an
example, Coffeyville, Kansas reported forty eight dead bodies of the attackers.
This is a town of around fourteen thousand people and we estimate that the
Ilita’cor sent a single pod of fifty soldiers to pacify it.”

“Overall,
we estimate that close to six hundred thousand Iltia’cor died on their assault
in Earth. Our estimates are that close to one million humans were killed in the
bombardment and attack. The Iltia’cor fleet left orbit at 1927, an hour and six
minutes after they started their bombardment.”

As
he turned around to the six people in the room, he wondered how many small
groups he would have to present this information to over the next week. With
four communication satellites in the sky, there was some information getting
out to the general population. Those he was briefing had more sources of
information than most, but even their understanding of events was tied loosely
together by their knowledge of what to expect before the attack.

Martin
had been among those who insisted that satellites be stored in rural areas for
storage during the attack.  He knew of forty six more satellites that were
being moved to various launch points, but the Iltia’cor targeted and destroyed
almost all rockets that were capable of orbital launch. Thankfully most of the
U.S., Russian, and Chinese shuttles were all able to be put into space and
moved by the Torpedo far enough away that the Iltia’cor ignored them.

“General,
thank you for the rundown,” General Davies said with a relieved sigh. “It’s
good to know that many of the rumors are true.”

“You’re
welcome General Davies. Glad we could give you some good news. Thank your wife,
again, for sacrificing her rose bushes for the effort. I’m sure that satellite
sitting in your backyard wasn’t what she wanted to see in the attack.”

“I
did have to promise to replant them when this is over,” Davies laughed. “But we
were glad to be of help.”

“Thanks
General, we’ll be in touch,” Kyle said as he turned to head towards Sergeant
Major Williams who was waiting by the door.

“What
do you have for me, Williams,” Kyle said as he neared.

“Good
news, sir. You know how our guys were saying it would be at least two months
before they could get a good idea on how to replicate the alloy used by the
Iltia’cor in their landing vehicle? I got a message out of Tinker by HAM today
that says they have a guy who teaches metallurgy at Oklahoma, a Doctor Michael
Willers, who got a piece of that alloy and was able to replicate it.”

“In
two weeks? Are you serious?”

“Yes
sir. We have sent someone to pick him and his work up so we can verify, but it
sounds promising.”

“That
is great Williams, better than I could have imagined. Get him set up at the
McGregor complex, whatever he needs. If he’s legit, we need to get going on
this. If he’s trying to con us, make him walk home.”

“I’ll
let you know once we get him settled in, sir.”

“Thanks.
I have to go meet with Smith now. Did you get to look at those schematics?”

“Yes
sir. There is no way we can even begin to make them; the theory is beyond
anything I have even heard about.”

“That’s
what I thought. No wonder he was so quick to agree. That confirms to me that we
will have to buy the engines from him. If this guy has really figured out the
alloy, that solves part of our problem, but I guess Smith will get his sale of
the engines. Get back with me tomorrow as soon as you can.”

“Will
do, sir. And congratulations on the star, General Martin.”

Kyle
smiled a little as Williams walked away. After everything that had happened
involving Hyderabad, he never thought he would gain the rank of General. He
felt a great sense of accomplishment. He felt the weight of that star as well.
Admiral Rider had been cajoled out of retirement to take the position of
Supreme Commander of Earth Forces. One of his demands was that Kyle be made a
General and be given command of their fleet operations.

Looking
at his watch Kyle realized that he had to step quickly if he was to meet with
Smith on time. He was habitually punctual, but Kyle always wanted to be a few
minutes early when meeting with the Pelod leader. Franklin Smith never declared
himself the leader of the Pelod, but he talked about his advisors and his staff
on a regular basis, so as far as Kyle was concerned, Smith was their leader.

He
entered the small conference room and let out a sigh of relief. He had once
again beaten Smith there, two minutes ahead of the meeting time. He knew that
Smith would walk in precisely at 1330. He noted the chocolate glazed doughnut
and coffee had been set on a side table. That meant Kitch had already been down
there and prepped the room. No cameras, no recording devices, just like Smith
insisted on.

As
Kyle bit into the doughnut, the door softly opened and Franklin Smith stepped
into the room.

“General
Martin, a pleasure to see you again,” Smith said as he sat in the chair across
from Kyle.

Kyle
finished swallowing and took a quick sip of coffee. “Mister Smith, thank you
for agreeing to meet me again. Can I get you anything?”

“Thank
you General, I’m fine. I just came from lunch. Thank you for the
recommendation, that is quickly becoming my favorite Earth food.”

Kyle
smiled and took another bite of his doughnut. It surprised him that Smith would
become such a fan of Mexican food. He had become quickly enamored of Maria’s
Mexican Café, their chicken enchiladas in particular.

“Tell
me General, have you ever had the sopapillas?  What a light, delicate food!”
Smith said with a true look of pleasure on his face.

“I
have, Mister Smith, did you have them drizzled with honey?”

“Honey.
Interesting, I will have to request that next time.”

“I’m
glad I could help your culinary exploration, Mister Smith. But I think we need
to talk about the engines that Earth will need before too long.”

“Straight
to business, I like that in a potential customer. Very well, what did your
inspection of the schematics tell you?”

“They
told me that we will definitely need to buy the first series of engines
required for sustained space travel.”

“Very
well. Do you understand the stress that it will cause to any vessel as the warp
field is established?”

“Yes,
we fully understand that we will need ships built of materials that will hold
up to the stress of the engines.”

“And
you understand that we cannot provide you with the alloy in the quantities
needed to build ships?”

“I
think we will be fine, Mr. Smith”

Kyle
loved to watch Smith try to hold surprise from his face. He was disappointed
this time as Smith’s jaw dropped open.

“Do
you mean to tell me, General, that you have discovered how to make this alloy
on Earth?”

“I
don’t think I will reveal all the cards in my hand, Mr. Smith. But the engines
are what we are most interested in.”

Smith
leaned back and looked at Kyle for a long few seconds before he spoke.

“General
Martin, before I make another step forward in this transaction, I must risk our
business by asking a personal question.”

Kyle
shifted uncomfortably. This was a new angle from Smith.

“I
can’t guarantee that I will answer, but you are free to ask.”

Smith
looked down at the table for a few seconds, and then began to slowly speak.

“I
am not a big believer in wanting to know what my equipment is used for. The
Otina never volunteer that information, for example, and I never ask. But since
I have become more familiar, General Martin, I cannot help but wonder at the
complexity of you. You are known by some as ‘The Butcher of Hyderabad’, but you
have never seemed to me as the type of man who could order such a massacre. So
I have to ask why you did.”

“Why
did I order the massacre of over one million Indians?”

“Yes,
General Martin. Why?”

“In
order to save one billion Indians.”

Both
men sat looking at each other.

“I’m
sorry General Martin, is that an idiom or statement of folklore that I do not
understand?”

“No,
Mister Smith. It is the honest truth.” Kyle took a deep breath. “What I am
going to tell you is a story that is protected by every level of security in
our nation. By telling you this, I am revealing classified information that I
will be forced to deny at every point. Do you understand what I am saying
Mister Smith?”

“I
do, General.”

“I
was Special Operations Commander during the Indian war. We had besieged the
city of Hyderabad and I was there with my command looking for ways of breaking
the resolve of the Indian Command, looking for security information, etcetera.”

Kyle
stood and walked over to the window and looked out.

“While
I was there, I received an urgent communication from a former Danish operative
that I had worked with several years earlier. He was a man I trusted with my
life and I decided that if he was trying to reach me it must have been
important. It was.”

There
was a short pause as Kyle carefully chose what to say.

“He
got me linked up with a General in the Indian Strategic Command. As part of my
position, I was often in contact with officers from the other side as we
maneuvered against each other and parlayed for different sources. He was
frantic. The war was not going well for them. They had supply issues that were
wearing them down and political pressure was mounting to win the war. They had
lost any sense of how to do it at that point, and the Indian High Command had
decided to gamble it all.”

“They
had decided that since they had acquired some Chinese ICBMs in the first days
of the war, that a mix of Indian and Chinese missiles might be able to defeat
our missile defense system. The Strategic Command had advised against it, but
they were overruled. The Indian government was going to launch a full scale
nuclear strike against the U.S. mainland in less than twelve hours.”

Kyle
looked back at Smith who was sitting in rapt attention at the edge of his
chair.

“This
particular General had been educated in the U.S. and had a much higher
awareness of the nature of the U.S. population than those in the High Command.
He was convinced, rightly I believe, that if India launched those missiles the
American people would not rest until every Indian was killed.”

“The
American people are difficult to rouse to a level of bloodlust, Mister Smith,
but it is in them. I believe with absolute certainty that if India had launched
those missiles without a good reason, that the nation of India would not exist
today and one billion Indians would be missing from our planet.”

Kyle
walked back over to his chair and sat down.

“There
was no way that the launch was not to take place. For two hours we examined
different scenarios to get them to stop the launch.”