The Synchronicity War Part 2 (32 page)

“I wouldn’t have a problem with letting some
people stay, who really wanted to stay but I’d have a big problem
making people stay that wanted to leave. That would be tantamount
to sending them on a suicide mission and who would you choose to
stay behind? Just about everybody here is part of a family that
includes at least one child. Do some families get to go and others
have to stay? Do we split some families up by taking the kids with
us and leaving their parents behind?” She shivered with horror and
shook her head. “I don’t think I could have anything to do with
that.”
Damn! She’s right too! There has to be another way so
that we don’t have to sacrifice our humanity to keep the race
alive.
Shiloh stopped walking and looked Kelly in the eyes.

“You’ve just added another task to your group’s
agenda. Find me another option, that allows us to take everyone,
who wants to go, without tipping the enemy off that they’ve left. I
don’t want to have to make that hellish decision but I will if I’m
forced to.” Her expression became more thoughtful.

“I’ll get the group working on that right now,
Admiral. I don’t want you to have to make that decision either.” As
Kelly saluted and walked back to the building, Shiloh watched her
go.
She hasn’t let this war warp her sense of right and wrong.
We’ll need people like her to rebuild our Civilization the right
way. I wonder how she feels about having children. Howard said to
find a good woman and have lots of kids. I wonder…
He left the
thought unfinished. His thoughts turned to Johansen and her
situation. Somehow even the prospect of considering hooking up with
someone else seemed to be an act of disloyalty to Johansen, even
though there was nothing between them. Shiloh shook his head at how
surreal this last hour seemed. First the bad news from Howard, then
the very good news about the energy device, then the depressing
prospect of having to force some colonists to stay here against
their will and be killed or even worse, captured. He had to keep
his mind focused on the tasks at hand and not let himself get
distracted or become emotionally off balance with thoughts of a
possible relationship. Not now anyway. Maybe when the new colony
was on its feet and the military buildup was in progress. Maybe
then.

Howard put the data tablet down and listened to
the wind blowing across the balcony of his high rise apartment. The
sun was starting to sink below the horizon and the metaphor for the
future of Human Civilization on Earth was so poignant, that he had
to look away in order to hold the tears back. Their worst fears had
been confirmed. An office clerk at the bio-hazard facility had been
found dead in her bed by her 4 year old son this morning. God! What
a thing for a small child to have to go through. The Oversight
Committee was desperately trying to convince themselves that it was
something else but the pattern fit perfectly. Roughly 28 days since
the colonists had been brought to the facility and death had
occurred during sleep. Just like the others although Johansen had
lasted almost 40 days before she died in her sleep too. ALL of them
had started getting ill while asleep. A few had woken up just long
enough to crawl out of bed and down the corridors before they
succumbed and the so far 100% mortality rate was scary enough to
make even the doctors shit their pants. No plague in history had
ever had a 100% mortality rate, not even Ebola or the plagues of
the Middle Ages. Dietrich had his staff frantically trying to find
all of the people that had contact with the dead woman over the
last 28 days and all the people THEY had contact with and all the
people that that group had contact with, etc. A hopeless task. The
number of potential contactees after this time was already
numbering in the thousands and climbing fast. The quarantine people
only had to miss one for the whole effort to fail. But Shiloh’s
warning had given them time. Time to get the SPG and the research
teams away to a safe place. Time to plan for this in advance
instead of just reacting in blind panic. At least Howard wouldn’t
live to see the worst of it. He had visited the bio-hazard facility
enough times to have had plenty of chances of exposure to the
bio-weapon. For all he knew, he might even have shared an elevator
with the dead woman, or someone she had shared an elevator with.
And just in case he hadn’t been exposed, he had a sufficient supply
of painless and quick acting poison to end it when he felt the time
was right. His children and grandchildren had taken his advice and
went on an extended camping trip as far from Civilization as
possible. He hoped they could last the winter. The sun had almost
set and the wind was getting uncomfortably cold. Time to go inside,
light the gas fireplace and settle down with a good book and bottle
of very old whiskey. He still had some books he’d been meaning to
read and still had some whiskey too. He got up and picked up the
data tablet, wondering what to do with it. He no longer cared if he
got any more messages. Looking over the balcony, he saw the large
pool that hadn’t been winterized yet. With a sense of being naughty
that he hadn’t experienced in a long, LONG time, he held the tablet
over the railing and dropped it, watching it fall 89 floors where
it hit the water with a surprisingly loud sound. With a laugh, he
turned and walked back inside to his book and whiskey.

Dietrich couldn’t believe what he’d just read. A
surprise message drone from Haven, contrary to standing orders not
to risk interception by the enemy by communicating with Earth.

[
Shiloh to ACSO. All the Havenite colonists
will be moving to TN. In order to maintain the illusion that Haven
is still occupied if…no, when enemy forces show up, Gunslinger and
Replenisher have to bring us as many dead bodies as possible. Ship
them exactly as you find them. We’ll place them on the streets of
the colony so that the enemy thinks the bio-weapon got here too. We
have to convince them that all humans are accounted for or else
they’ll search and possibly find TN before we’re ready for them.
We’ll take the appropriate precautions when Replenisher gets here.
Admiral Shiloh. End of message
]

Dietrich couldn’t help but laugh despite the
ghoulish nature of the request. The irony of using the enemy’s
bio-weapon to deceive them was just too great to ignore. He’d have
to move fast though. Panic was starting to rear its ugly head. If
he waited too long, there wouldn’t be enough personnel left on duty
to carry out his orders. He activated the intercom and called in
what was left of his staff. At least finding enough bodies wasn’t
going to be a problem.

Gunslinger transmitted his next chess move to
his human opponent down on the lunar base, while noting the fact
that the Space Force data feed from HQ reported the death of 3 star
Admiral and former Chief of Space Operations Howard. A lot of
people were starting to die now. The lunar base had been spared so
far due to the quarantine but the humans there could only last so
long before their food ran out and they faced the prospect of
either returning to Earth or starving to death. Meanwhile, he was
still conning Replenisher, which was still in her lunar parking
orbit. Some of the Space Force people on the moon had raised the
possibility of using Replenisher to take them to Haven. Gunslinger
had firmly quashed that notion. Not only was the ship contaminated
with the bio-weapon, which meant any passengers would die
eventually, but his orders from HQ were quite explicit that the
ship was not to transport anyone to Haven under any circumstances
for reasons that should have been obvious to everyone. Humans were
a funny species. Funny in both senses of the word. Gunslinger
wondered if any A.I. could really understand the whole sexual
orgasm thing except as a theoretical concept of course. The
prospect of a universe without humans was very disturbing to him
and to all A.I.s. His human opponent was in the process of making
the obvious next chess move when Gunslinger received a FLASH
PRIORITY message from HQ.

[Dietrich to Gunslinger. Prepare to accept
cargo of plague victims which you will transport to Haven as per
Admiral Shiloh’s urgent request. You’ll receive further orders from
him when you arrive there. Give him my regards and give the enemy
hell if you get the chance. Acting CSO Dietrich. End of
message
]

When Replenisher arrived at Haven, Gunslinger
was not surprised to see a large number of ships in orbit. Sentry
frigates and the odd tanker, were arriving in a steady stream from
the border areas. What did surprise him was that those ships hadn’t
continued on to Site B. He soon found out why. Within seconds, he
was in contact with Valiant.

“Welcome to Haven, Gunslinger.” said Shiloh.

“Glad to be here, CAG. I brought the cargo you
requested.”

“Very good. I want Replenisher to hold on to
them for a while yet. There are still some colonists down there,
who haven’t been transported to Site B yet and we’re also making
some last minutes modifications to the colony itself. If the enemy
tries to land there, they’ll set off a fusion device that will
destroy the colony and any evidence that it was a deception.”

“Very devious of you, CAG. I like it. What part
will the sentry frigates play?”

“We’ll leave the sentry frigates, 2 tankers, 3
freighters including Replenisher, and 2 automated combat frigates
behind in geosynchronous orbit over the colony. We’ll make it look
as though all the crews died from the bio-weapon, leaving the ships
adrift. When the enemy fleet arrives, they’ll see the ships
drifting and the bodies in the streets. The ships will be booby
trapped too so if they attempt to board any of them, the ship will
blow up in their faces. When the last bodies are taken off
Replenisher, the bio-suited volunteers doing that will also extract
you from the Bridge. Once they place the bodies on the ground, they
and you will undergo decontamination and quarantine on board
Resolute. The shuttle used for the transfer of the bodies will be
set on auto-pilot to fly into the sun and Resolute will bring
everyone to Site B. We’ll leave behind a message drone and a recon
drone that will keep an eye on the place from a safe distance.”

“Yes, that should convince them that all the
colonies have been wiped out. I do have one question, CAG. When do
I get some combat?” Shiloh laughed.

“Not for a while I’m afraid. Shifting all the
colonists to Terra Nova this quickly has upset the buildup of
military assets. We had to shift the UFCs to producing shelter and
farming equipment for the colonists, so that they could start
farming and not have to sleep out in the open. The military buildup
hasn’t stopped but it’s slowed down a lot and will have to stay
that way for at least 3 months. The first new spacecraft won’t be
finished for another 9 months but by then we’ll have the mass
production line ready to go and the Fleet will grow fast. At that
point, we’ll start planning offensive operations and you’ll be part
of that. I promise.”

“I can’t wait, CAG. While we’ve been talking,
I’ve been in communication with Iceman onboard Resolute. He’s told
me about the power breakthrough. Fantastic! I’m anxious to strike
back hard.”

“Me too, Gunslinger. I have to cut this
conversation short now. We’ll talk again soon. CAG clear.”

Chapter 20 - Told You So

Shiloh and Kelly stood on a hill overlooking the
valley where the new colony was growing. With plenty of excellent
farm land available, the decision was made to break up the colony
into smaller clusters of inhabitants, each with its own farms
around it. Eventually they would grow together into one large
community but that was a long way into the future. Shiloh was
pleased with their progress. Everyone had some kind of shelter to
sleep under and the crude, temporary shacks were gradually being
replaced by much better housing. Everyone had some electric power
thanks to the small version of the Zero Point Energy device that
Alvarez had invented. Terra Nova had very little axial tilt which
meant that the temperate zone, the colony was situated in, would
not experience either scorching hot summers or cold winters. In
fact, they could grow crops all year round.

“We’re on schedule for shifting most of the UFCs
back to military production, Admiral.” said Kelly. Shiloh
nodded.

“Good! By the way, when there’s no one else
around, you can call me, Victor.” Kelly looked behind her at the
shuttle which had brought them here and its pilot, who was sitting
on its wing. She decided that he was far enough away that he
couldn’t hear what they were saying to each other.

“Okay, Victor.” She paused and then added. “I
wanted to talk with you about the SPG. I’ve given this a lot of
thought and I think I should step down and let one of the A.I.s
take over as Team Leader.” Shiloh looked at her in surprise.

“You’ll miss all the excitement when we resume
offensive operations.” She shrugged.

“I know but at this point, I really think an
A.I. should lead the team. In fact I think the entire SPG should be
A.I.s. They think so much faster that any humans involved in the
process would only slow things down. But the other reason is that I
don’t have the fire in me for this fight any more. I think I’ve
earned the right to put the uniform aside and start making a
different kind of life for myself. The Colony needs to grow fast
and if I’m going to have children, I’ll have to start soon. That’s
starting to look pretty good to me now.” Shiloh took his time
responding.

“I’ll give your suggestion regarding an all A.I.
SPG some thought. If you did decide to have children, would it be
solo or with a partner?”

“A good question. I know some of the single
women are taking advantage of the frozen sperm that Howard sent
along with TF91 but with over 10,000 colonists here I don’t think
we have to worry about a small gene pool. It all depends on whether
the right man is available and interested.”