Future Chron Universe Book 2 - From The Earth Series Book 2 - War Through The Pines - Chapters 11 - 15

 

Image: 3000ad - Spaceship wheel near Earth - dreamstime

Chapter 11

Lieutenant Brently Armstrong was busy. He had never been given such a difficult assignment. He was charged with finding the anomalous signal that had shown up irregularly in his data logging of the EM sensors. And he had only been given another twenty-four hours to find it. The order had come straight from the General. Something was up.

Brently started by thinking about how he could locate the source even if it wasn't transmitting. Was there any way that data analysis could show the location, or at least the area of the platform from which the signal was being generated?

He thought about the information he already knew. He knew the different sources of the electromagnetic interference which he had nulled out. He knew their relative strength which his EM sensors picked up and he knew their exact location from scouting the station.

If he could build a map of the platform and locate each noise source and its signal strength on that map he might be able to use the data he had on the unknown source to assign it to no more than a few areas around the platform. 

“Tess,” he said. “We need a map of the station, do you know of any in the database?”

“Yes Brently. I'll bring up the different versions on the terminal over here and you can choose.”

Brently reviewed the different station configuration diagrams and chose one to work with. He began using his Annie to correlate EM noise sources with distance from the sensors. By tagging the platform diagram with noise source, location and signal strength he developed his map.

Now it was just a matter of making an assumption about the signal strength of the unknown source...

Brently jumped as his Annie switched to a very loud alarm mode. The unknown source was back online! The Annie had learned that Brently was interested in this signal and had arranged the alarm itself.

Brently grabbed his portable EM sensor adapter and plugged it into his Annie for more precise location mining.

“Tess, the unknown source is back online. Please tell Dr. Fermion I am going to try to find the location.”

“Very well Brently, good luck.”

The Annie became a signal tracker once the external EM sensor was plugged in, the screen which now looked like a compass always pointed towards the unknown signal.

He followed the tracker out of the workroom and noticed that the signal was somewhere below him. He would have to climb to the center of the wheel and move 'down' in the direction of the lower equipment and station keeping boom.

Once in what was effectively zero gravity, Brently pulled himself in the direction of the lower boom. At the end of the long cylinder of the wheel's center, Brently pulled himself up to a viewing port from which he could see the lower boom. The view of the earth below caused a moment of vertigo.

He began to scan the boom by eye. He knew that the box or whatever it was he was looking for would have to have a long wire trailing from it. The box might be any size, though he expected it to be small, but the length of the antenna wire was fixed according to the transmission frequency. And the frequency that Brently had measured for the unknown signal would require an antenna wire of a few meters.

Brently was repeating the scan of the long boom for the third time when he thought he saw it. But he wasn't sure because the Annie's digital magnification couldn't resolve the target. If only he had a pair of real binoculars. Brently called the workroom over the intercom and asked Tess to bring a pair of binoculars.

It wasn't long before Brently saw the robot pulling itself along the handholds as he had done.

“Here are the binoculars,” said Tess as she came up to Brently.

“Thanks.”

Through the binoculars, he could definitely see a small box with a trailing wire.

“Tess can you see that small box with the trailing wire about a third of the way down the boom?”

Tess moved to the window. “Yes, I see it.”

We've got him, thought Brently.

“Tess, how could someone place a box such as that on the boom?”

“A human in a spacesuit or a boom management robot could have placed it there Brently.”

“And to do so they would have to open this hatch?”

“I would say that is obvious,” said Tess.

“Aren't all hatch accesses and robot movements logged somewhere?”

“That is correct Brently. Even my effort to bring you the binoculars has been logged. And all hatch accesses must be approved by the central computer or the officer on duty.”

“Well whoever it was that put the unauthorized transmitter out there had to go through the boom hatch or send a robot. And whichever way he did it the station logs will show. All we have to do is search those logs and question anyone associated.”

Brently smiled at Tess.

The station alarm went off. Brently heard the whine of the laser weapons powering up. He went back to the window and began to look from the earth outward. He heard the pop and felt the recoil of the chemical discharge that roared out the exhaust ports of the huge three-hundred-kilowatt energy weapons. Such weapons could vaporize a six-inch thick piece of steel in seconds.

He couldn't see the attackers the lasers were firing at but he did see the remains of the chemical reaction that powered the lasers and exhausted at tremendous speed. Then he felt a strange shutter as if the station was being shaken by a giant.

The intercom crackled to life and Brently heard the all hands abandon ship alarm. He looked at Tess.

Tess said, “Hurry Brently you may have only a few minutes to reach an escape pod.”

Brently hesitated a moment, “Thanks Tess.”

He started up the nearest ladder to the wheel's perimeter. The station began a complex but repeatable vibration. Brently increased his speed.

Chapter 12

Donner and his dad flew back home the day after Pike's Peak. A couple of days later the 15th Mobile Space Communications Command showed up early in the morning to establish a listening post. Captain Harrison introduced himself and spoke with Jack for several minutes about where to best set up the unit. They needed a clear view of Donner's signal source and yet needed to be far enough away from the house to minimize any interference. Jack suggested they set up in the east end of the valley which was more open than the west end. Captain Harrison agreed.

The unit was set up and operating by that evening. Only six soldiers with as many robots established the base of operations. Donner went down to see the setup. The receiving dish's five-meter diameter was quite impressive deployed atop a flatbed truck. Donner introduced himself to the robotic perimeter guard who called for Captain Harrison.

Captain Harrison greeted Donner and offered to show him around the encampment. He got a quick look at the control room for the dish even though it was technically off-limits to civilians. Captain Harrison then introduced him to his technical officer, Lieutenant Jones. 

Jones said, “I am pleased to meet you Donner, you are already a legend at HQ.”

“What do you mean Lieutenant?” asked Donner.

“He means,” said Captain Harrison interrupting, “That what you have done with essentially consumer-grade equipment impresses every technical person that learns about it, like Lieutenant Jones here.”

“Well, I found a mystery is all. And I wanted to solve it. For me it was just solving a puzzle.”

“Well if we could all solve puzzles like that Donner we wouldn’t need all this equipment and training Space Command gives us. You should be proud of what you’ve accomplished.”

“You should also be proud because it may be invaluable to your country son,” said Captain Harrison.

Donner wasn’t sure what to say so he just said, “Thank you.” Then his dad showed up.

“Donner your mother is looking for you. You should go on home now.”

“Okay dad. Goodbye Captain Harrison, Lieutenant Jones.”

Jack Jackson began talking to the soldiers as Donner walked away. Donner overheard his dad inviting them to dinner when he looked over his shoulder at the stars rising above the mountain tops. Suddenly a flare appeared through the pines between him and the mountain, it immediately dimmed and then brightened, brighter than any star. Then it faded quickly, Donner thought it was just like an explosion. He heard shouts from the encampment. That is when he knew. He knew it was his transmission source that had flared up. Donner ran to an opening among the trees and turned to stare at the sky, he saw other dimmer flares. One, then two, then another and another. 

He turned back to join his dad who was walking towards him now. “Dad, you know what that was, the bright one?” he yelled.

“I think I do Donner, the dish lost the signal from your source about the time the flare happened. I also think I know what those other flares are. Let's get back to the house and use your setup. I want to see what signals we can pick up.”

“What is it dad, what do you think is happening?”

“War Donner, I think it is war.”

Chapter 13

Jason was excited. This was the first time he had ever been invited to appear on television. The host was known for favoring sensational stories. And Jason's was such.

The story had exploded on the internet. Conspiracy theorists spread it, embellished it, argued over it. In some of the stories, Jason became a Chinese agent, in others a whistleblowing hero. In all he was famous.

Jason was being prepped in makeup. Beside him was Colonel Sloan, one of Jason's former sources of information. He would be arguing against Jason's conclusions. And Jason knew that Samuel Sloan could make a good argument.

Jason was determined not to reason with the viewers but to play to their emotions. He knew his story was not tight enough to stand up to Sloan's objections. But he also knew that he only had to present himself as the reasonable party and Sloan as the nutcase to win the debate.

As they were finishing with makeup, Jason and Sloan rose from their chairs simultaneously and couldn't avoid making eye contact.

“Well Jason,” said Sloan. “I guess we are going to see how well your story holds up to inspection.”

“Colonel, I assure you my story will hold up under inspection as will I.”

“We'll see,” said the Colonel.

Jason found the lighting on the sparse set much brighter and hotter than he expected. Maybe a result of lighting the studio for the 3D super-high definition broadcast. The set included just the three chairs and a high desk. The host on one side, his two guests on the other. Jason was afraid he might start sweating.

The host started, “Welcome to Your Voice on the Talk Network. This is your host, Robert Rich, and I have with me today Jason Bigley and retired Colonel Samuel Sloan. Jason, as most of you know, wrote the article published on the website The Whole Truth! which has everyone talking. In that article, Jason takes to task the United States government for its failure to inform citizens of the dangers presented by Chinese militarization of orbital space.

Looking directly into the camera he said, “According to Jason, ladies and gentlemen, we are all at the mercy of our Chinese overlords.”

The camera caught Colonel Sloan wincing at the hyperbole.

“Also with me is former Space Command Colonel Samuel Sloan. Colonel Sloan is here to argue against Jason's conclusions. I would like to start the discussion by asking Jason for a quick rundown of his remarkable reporting.”

Jason began well, providing a quick review of the main points of his web story. He closed his comments by assuring the viewers that each major point of his story could be confirmed by an independent source if necessary.

Rich turned to Colonel Sloan and said, “So Colonel from what I just heard, Jason's reporting seems to be sound. What exactly is your objection to his story.”

“My understanding of journalism is that you print the facts. And the facts are two. First, the hypersonic fleet of the United States has been placed on alert but this is not unusual. Second, that the Chinese are intending to conduct a system-wide review of their military forces, sometimes called war games, this is also not unusual. 

“Now Mr. Bigley has decided these two events are connected. But I can assure the viewers that besides the coincidence of these two events they have no other relation. I repeat they are only coincidences, there is no rational connection between the two. Everyone I know in the military or formerly in the military will say the same thing.”

Rich said, “Thank you Colonel, that was a bit much, but I think we all understand your position now. Jason, do you have a response to what the Colonel has just said.”

“Yes, I would point out that the Colonel did not deny the main points of my story. In fact, he confirmed them. I would also like to point out that though he calls the timing of these two events a coincidence, he does not deny that the timing is unusual. To put the hypersonic forces of the United States on high alert is not an inconsequential event. To call for massive war games as the Chinese have done is also not of inconsequential significance. Are we to believe that these two countries, now allies but formerly enemies, have by coincidence essentially put their military forces on high alert? Are we to believe there is no connection? Isn't it more reasonable to assume that the two events are connected? Isn't it safer for the security of this country to assume there is a connection? Isn't it patriotic to assume such? Is the Colonel such a patriot?”

“Now wait a minute young man. Your insinuation is too much for me to take without objection. Tell me, what branch of the services did you serve in?”

Rich smiled.

“Colonel Sloan knows that I did not have the honor to serve my country. However, I do not see how that impacts the truth. My story ...”

“Your story,” said the Colonel interrupting. “Your story is not based on truth but conjecture. The connection between the two events in question has no basis in fact but only in fiction. Your fiction Mr. Bigley.”

“Colonel let me ask you a question. Were you not at one time a source of military information for me?”

“When you acted in a responsible manner, yes I shared information with you.”

“Then do you deny that you were contacted by someone in the US military ordering you to not share any more information with me when I started trying to find out the reason behind the US hypersonic forces being brought to high alert?”

“Yes, and I did so because I am, unlike you, a patriot.”

“Oh,” said Jason. “So it's patriotic to withhold information from citizens and unpatriotic to tell those citizens the truth? Is that the position you are taking?”

“Before you answer Colonel,” said Rich. “We need to take a break.”

Turning to the camera Rich said, “We'll be right back.”

Rich turned to his guests and said, “I thought that was an excellent segment gentleman. Keep it up in the next segment and we should get great ratings.”

Just then Rich's assistant ran up and handed him a note.

“Damn!” said Rich after reading the note. “Damn it, I can't believe it. The show didn't go out. The satellite is down. Something is happening up there.”

Chapter 14

Back in Donner’s room he and his dad found that many of the satellites Donner had located were off-line. A few internet radios were still operating and from these, they heard the news. Someone had attacked the space assets of the United States. Commercial assets belonging to US multinationals were also under attack. No one had found an obvious sign of rockets or missile explosions (other than the explosion of the satellites themselves) so most speculated the attacker used kinetic energy weapons. Such weapons, launched by electromagnetic rail-guns, would offer greater stealth at launch and be more difficult to track than conventional rockets, especially if launched in large numbers.

If this were true then it was also expected that these weapons had been launched from the moon or its vicinity. No one knew who had launched the attack but there were just a few suspects since there were few bases on the moon. The US, China, Japan and India all had moon bases. Most commentators suspected Chinese involvement. 

A few denounced the attack as deplorable but many others argued that it was only just, as the US had for many years been the world’s greatest aggressor. Donner and his dad gave up on getting any factual information and shut down the setup.

“We'll check later Donner, as far as this bunch knows it could have been caused by little green men,” said Jack shaking his head.

The talk at dinner was about what might have happened. Donner's mother seemed particularly disturbed at the news of war. Jack carefully explained that they hadn't enough information to verify that what had happened was an act of war. And he suspected that even if it was an act of aggression it wouldn't directly affect them except maybe as an increase in food prices. It would, therefore, make even more sense to try and farm enough to support the three of them.

After dinner, Donner and his dad went back up into his room to listen for any news. Some of the geostationary satellites they had found earlier seemed to be off-line now. After several minutes of searching low Earth orbit satellites, they found what seemed to be an official broadcast from the White House. The president’s spokesman read the following statement:

“At five-fifty PM Eastern Standard Time, the space resources of the United States were put under attack. This includes military and commercial assets. This attack was unprovoked. Five minutes later thousands of hypersonic aircraft and missiles were launched against our ground and sea assets. Our allies in the Polish block and India were also attacked. The attack heavily damaged the United States' capability to respond. However, using other assets untouched by the first attack, US systems detected the launch locations of this second wave of attacks. They came from Japanese and Turkish controlled territories. At six-ten PM the President ordered a retaliatory strike against these launch sites and other strategic sites with our remaining hypersonic resources. Just a few minutes ago at eight-twenty PM the Japanese and Turks confirmed our intelligence by broadcasting terms of surrender to Washington. The President has rejected these terms but agreed to negotiate. It is unknown at this time as to the extent of the damages to our forces or the loss of life, we will release these numbers when we have them. The President will be making a speech at nine-thirty PM, I urge all Americans to tune in. That is all for now.”

The press yelled questions at the spokesman but he was gone and the broadcast went back to the local anchors.

“Is it all over now?” asked Donner.

“I suspect this first wave of the war is over. The hypersonic weapons they used travel at Mach 5 or greater, that's about four-thousand miles-per-hour. And with precision guidance it doesn't take long for targets anywhere in the world to be taken out.”

“Why dad, why did they do it?”

“Well son, I can tell you that the Japanese have been hard-pressed to maintain their standard of living since the turn of the century, mostly because of their decreasing population, especially the working-age population. They obviously want to gain access to resources and they apparently believe the US is preventing them from doing so. I don’t know why the Turks are involved but they are a relatively young country and could have similar resource pressures. Or maybe the Turks are trying to become a regional power and they feel the US is blocking their efforts. It will be some time before we know for sure.”

“What about the military space assets we lost, what are those dad? I thought we hadn’t any except for some military satellites?”

“That too is something we will be learning about over the next several days or weeks Donner. It might be military satellites but I suspect it has something to do with the radio source you found. And I am sure that radio source is what prompted the Japanese and Turks into taking action and choosing this time to do it. Let’s wait until we hear what the President has to say.”

The President’s address just reiterated what the spokesman had said earlier. The only new piece of information was that negotiations would begin in Geneva in a week. He urged all Americans to remain calm.

“I’m going down to your mother,” said Jack. “Don’t stay up late, we will probably learn more tomorrow anyway, goodnight.”

“Goodnight dad,” said Donner. Donner set his system up to scan and laid on his bed where he went to sleep listening to snippets of the news.

Chapter 15

Donner continued his scans for news the following morning. He noted that the remaining operational satellites that he could scan were either foreign-owned or were part of an international communications network. Apparently, the Japanese had been very careful with their target selection, choosing only those that were directly owned by the US government and US corporations and only when they weren’t involved in broadcasting to a broader global audience.

But collateral damage had been extensive. US television services were particularly hard hit. Most American TV networks had to rely on internet streaming to continue operations. In any event, they estimated that half their former audience was unable to receive their broadcasts. The broadcast corporations demanded compensation for their losses but were ignored as they didn’t have the influence to stir up public opinion anymore.

The negotiations began a week later in Geneva. On one side was the US, India, Poland and their allies; on the other side were Japan and Turkey and their allies. Days passed without any agreements only accusations. The Japanese presented evidence of the militarization of space by the United States. They contended that the US had secretly tried to construct three command and control platforms in geosynchronous orbit, one above South America, one off the coast of Africa with Turkey in view and one above the Pacific south of Japan. 

The Japanese claimed these platforms had offensive and electronic jamming capabilities that essentially reduced the warning time for hypersonic missiles aimed at Japan to a few minutes instead of the former half hour. The Japanese and Turks pointed out that the establishment of these military platforms and their offensive capabilities were against international law and was provocative enough to warrant their actions. 

The Japanese presented evidence that the Washington-Beijing-Seoul alliance that had emerged in the past decade had led to the necessary growth of the Japanese military. They claimed they were being denied a clear and safe supply line for the imported resources that they desperately needed to maintain their economy.

Turkey complained that the instability in its local area was not being addressed by any of the major powers and it was up to them to stabilize the region for their own safety as well as the safety of neighboring states. The US military's projection of power was in direct defiance of this basic need while not contributing anything to its fulfillment. The orbiting “Battle Stars,” as the Turks labeled them, was the provocation that forced them to act.

Donner now understood the importance of those messages he had intercepted. They were updates on the Battle Stars to Japanese Intelligence.

The US and its allies denied all the charges. They termed the Japanese and Turkish actions as bald aggression and paranoid delusions.

The talks were obviously not going well. Donner was astounded at the lack of sincerity on both sides. He soon stopped listening to the news preferring to spend his days helping his dad prepare the farm as much as possible for self-sufficiency.

Donner and his dad were working in the barn, building more stalls to hold the animals that Jack hoped to buy. The robotic carpenter was excellent at cutting boards just right even though it didn't physically measure the cuts. Donner and his dad then nailed the boards up.

Donner said, “Dad, before I stopped following them the talks in Geneva just seemed to be a lot of accusations, no one really wanted to address the issues honestly it seemed to me.”

“Yes Donner. There is always a lot of posturing in any kind of negotiations. What they are doing is trying to influence public opinion so that any agreement will seem necessary and reasonable and the parties to the negotiations will appear blameless no matter the nature of the treaty that comes out of the negotiations.”

“So, they don't actually want to solve problems just make sure people don't blame them for the results?”

“Something like that.”

“You know dad I've been thinking that instead of going to school for a doctorate, maybe I'll just get a bachelor's and try to make a career in flying. You know how much I love flying.”

“If that is what you want son. I think you should always pursue your interests and not society’s. Too many people doing things they don't like already.”

“That's what I think too dad.”

Chapters 16 - 19