Asterion (23 page)

Taylor joins in, “Thanks from me to.”

Sharing a meal with Christine’s aunt and uncle allows them a few hours of normalcy in the chaos. Talking, laughing and remembering old times heal the mind of experienced brutality, if only for a time. Sad goodbyes by the dim porch light and waves from the car as they drive away are the last memories of peace for a while.

Taylor and Christine meet with Sanderson at the base in his office. Sitting together, Sanderson leans forward. “We have an exciting project for both of you to help develop and put into practice. Organically grown carbon based nanotube artificial muscles. It’s our next generation of battle ready exoskeleton suits. As you know, the old suits were bulky, clumsy and not very fast. These promise to be lighter, faster and more maneuverable for the wearer. We are having some issues in scaling, input and the power output of the suits. Currently, injected sensors pick up signals from the muscles of the wearer and transfer it to battery pack where power goes to the artificial muscles. There is a tradeoff in power, bulk and the life of the charge on the suit. Active camouflage, covering the suit drains the charge much faster. We need a suit that an operator can throw on and operate without the invasive sensors. We also need greater power efficiencies. I know it is a tall task, but you two are our best hope. Additionally, we will need to debrief each of you to learn as much as we can about the creatures. In addition, what you predictions of the capabilities of their second and third generation creatures will have. ”

Taylor and Christine look at each other as if asked to climb Mount Everest in a day. She looks back at Sanderson. “Sir, we’ll do everything we can in the shortest time possible, but results are hard to predict.”

Taylor agrees, “Yes, but we will do our best.”

“That is all I ever ask, and a little more sometimes.” Sanderson smiles, stands and bids them goodbye.

Taylor and Christine are hustled out to the tarmac where a waiting Air Force Jetstream T800 speeds them to a lab in the middle of the province. The landscape is sparse with scrub brush, heat and wind to greet them as they exit the aircraft.

Christine smiles and looks at Taylor. “It could use a bit of decorating.”

“Well, do what you can honey.”

She pushes him as they seek the shelter of the airbase terminal. Inside, they meet Phil who, looking over his glasses to inspect them offers this observation. “Hmmm, you two are too happy to be in this place.”

Taken aback, Taylor greets him first. Shaking Phil’s hand, “We’ve heard a lot about you. It’s finally good to meet you.”

Phil wryly responds, “All bad probably, but that is how I like it.”

Christine inquires, “Why?”

“People keep their distance. Machines do what you tell them. People do what they want. I like knowing what’s going to happen.”

“Ah, you like control.”

“Only when people bother me, which is most of the time nowadays with everything happening. I’m actually a cowardly anarchist. I like just enough control so that others don’t bother me so I tolerate you middle grounders.”

Taylor tilts his head. “Middle grounders?”

“You know, people who are alright with what they do, but not with what others do.”

“Okay, I see what you mean.”

“Oh, by the way, I know you two are Christians. Just for the record, I’ve heard the story already. It’s not for me.”

Taylor smiles, “Well, now that the pleasantries are out of the way, we can get to work.”

“I like you guys already. Follow me.”

Christine and Taylor follow Phil down the hallway looking at each other wanting to giggle, but they’re successful at suppressing their juvenile impulses.”

“I’ll pop the trunk. Throw what you got in there. The guys will bring the rest of your stuff when it arrives on the transport.

Getting in the car, they drive to the other side of the base and Phil parks outside an unmarked building. Getting out they look the one-story, concrete block building with high horizontal window over with skepticism.

Christine points at the structure, “It’s kind of small isn’t it?”

“It’s an iceberg. Most of it’s below, where it is safe for us moles.” Phil finally cracks a smile.

Christine shutters, “I hate caves.”

“It’s plenty bright and ventilation is good. After a while you’ll forget where you are at.”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, someone took the time to gather all your equipment on the projects you worked on in the past, so at least something is familiar.”

Taylor looks at Christine, “Well, that’s not so bad, is it?”

Christine looks at the door and scrunches her face. Phil opens the door and ushers them in.

Entering the building, an empty room greets them with only an elevator door and stairwell as decorations. Entering the elevator, Phil presses the down button. Christine looks at the panel. Her eyes open wide when she sees that they are going down twenty floors.

Exiting the elevator, they sniff the air. Its fresh air and the plants are real, supported by artificial light in the right spectrum for growth. The walls have monitors with changing scenes that mimic windows.

Christine looks around, “This does not feel like we are twenty floors underground. Wow, just saying it makes me gulp.”

Phil laughs, “Well, with all the action going on, it’s a great place to hide from useless meetings and inquiring people.”

He shows them their offices and labs.

Taylor, incredulous, looks around. “How did you get all our stuff from the other lab?”

“You can get away with a lot when that lab is in chaos and you show up with a truck and moving company credentials. The intelligence team waltzed in and out with everything they could put their hands on and drove off without questions. We have recreated your apartments too.”

Christine gets excited. “Really, tell me they are not down here.”

“No, I live down here. You guys live in the small town a few miles away. Not much for amenities, but enough to get by.”

“When do we get to see them?”

“Soon, they are still moving you in. You won’t have to unpack, great, huh?”

Taylor breathes a sigh of relief. “Great.”

Entering their offices, they see everything is just as it was in the old lab, except for windows.

Phil turns towards the door, looks back and informs them, “Get acquainted with your stuff. I have to get stuff ready for our meeting with Stanley and Sanderson. They want to know what we are facing out there. See you guys later.”

Taylor and Christine, left alone to look over the lab find many items from their past they had forgotten. Christine looks over some equipment and turns to Taylor. “It’s like some big master plan that took years to come together.”

“Yea, everything has come to this place, now for a reason.”

“I can see God’s hand in all of this. I know this is where we need to be for now.”

“I agree.”

CHAPTER 25 - GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS

Their time for reminiscing is quickly over when they hear the crackle of the intercom system. Phil’s voice is loud and clear. “Is this thing on, I never know. Well, hey guys, make your way to the big conference room filled with refreshments and people asking annoying questions ‘bout stuff. Fun, fun. How do you turn this thing off? Oh, okay.” With a pop, the intercom goes dead.

Christine starts for the door. “Let’s go.”

“He did say food, right?”

“Yes. Is that all you heard?”

“Yup, Food and some other mumbling which is probably my stomach I think.”

They enter the conference room and take advantage of the refreshments while waiting for the other attendees.

Phil cautions, “Save some room for the real food. Don’t fill up on this junk.”

“Taylor, alert asks, “There’s more?”

Christine laughs, “The path to your heart really goes through your stomach.”

“It’s not the only path, but it is the super highway.”

Phil wisecracks, “You two are so cute.”

Laughter subsides as Sanderson, Stanley and their immediate staff fills the room. Sanderson goes to the head of the table and turns on the projector. “We don’t have a lot of time so we’ll just dive into the briefing. Burnsom is already training the creatures under the command of Asterion. He will deploy them to quell rebellions in the other provinces. That will be their first test. From there, they will be upfitted for battle and turned loose on us. We have discovered his plans, but information about the beasts is sketchy at best. Taylor, Christine who wants to inform us about them?

Taylor and Christine look at each other and Christine prods Taylor. He gets up and goes to the head of the table. “What we face are creatures with many capabilities.” The latest surveillance photos appear on the screen. “From the top, we see their horns. Close combat without heavy protection is not advisable. From the horns, we see the snout. Powerful with omnivore teeth, the engineering for this attribute comes from polar bears. My suspicion is they may be cannibalistic like polar bears. They will eat their own killed on the battlefield and that of their enemies. That will be unnerving to soldiers. They must be psychologically prepared for this lest they hesitate upon first sight. If that is not enough, their torsos have rhino-like hide. Thick, but flexible, penetrating it with small arms is next to impossible without armor piercing, high-powered projectiles. The arms are impressive. Every bit as dexterous as ours, they can handle weapons accurately and easily. Heavy weapons would not be a problem for them, making it difficult to withstand withering fire from them.” Switching images, Taylor focuses on their hands. “Those are retractable claws like a cat. Razor sharp, they will rip apart any unprotected flesh with lightning speed. Strong, bovine legs carry the beast with speed and endurance. A kick from the sharp hoofs would easily kill. Christine, do you have anything else to add?”

From her seat Christine replies, “This is first generation. Second generation will undoubtedly improve on these features. More brainpower, differing size for specialization and lessons learned from the battlefield will change things. Information will be the key to keeping up. We don’t want to be surprised.”

Sanderson stands up, “We have many friends that keep us informed on a daily basis. We should be current going forward. Christine and Taylor will help our intelligence folks make sense of what we discover. They will also fine-tune some of our systems. Do any of you have questions for them?

“I do.” A voice comes from the back that Taylor remembered from the auditing team in the old lab. Stepping out of the shadows Taylor finally recognizes him. Geoffrey Graff was an intelligence officer Taylor worked with during his time with the Israelis. He helped define the needs for information gathering systems that unmanned drones and aircraft carried. “Is our body armor strong enough to withstand attack and what about the flex areas?”

Taylor tosses a piece of cloth to Graff for him to examine. “This material is a further advancement on the impact resistant soft armor for flex areas. It responds to pressure from outside so that it does not resist the pressures caused by flexing a joint. Even slowly putting pressure on it causes it to harden in a small area that spreads the force without halting movement. It’s constructed from a crystalline, polymer structure that reacts as a unit in a defined area.”

“We don’t have anything to match them in close combat. Our exoskeleton-assisted body armor is too slow and cumbersome and we don’t have enough soldiers with the implants to operate them. Is there anything else we can use for close combat?”

“I am working on external control of the assist and reactive semi-organic muscles that will be faster and more agile. However, that will take some time to develop and mass produce for the field.”

“We have a large number of automated systems, but not enough operators available to operate them. How does that number help us?”

Taylor hands him a large computer chip, “This is called a cerebellum module. It provides for superior decision making on the part of the automated. For the creatures, it will dispatch them without needing an operator to okay the decision. It will protect humans first and deal with creatures second. Unless taking the creatures out protects the humans. New modular programming allows the automated to be skilled in a variety of tasks and we only have to provide decision making between those actions.”

“Can they really fight without human intervention?

“Yes, in over ninety percent of scenarios.”

“That could be dangerous.”

“Do we have a choice? No. Is it our only option for survival? Yes.”

“Very good, thank you Taylor and Christine.” Graff sits down.

Sanderson stands up again. “Anyone have other questions for them today?” Waiting a minute for a reply, Sanderson continues. “Our success depends upon having superior technology to counter Burnsom’s superior soldiers and that depends on Phil, Christine and Taylor’s success. They have a lot to do and we are keeping them from it. Dismissed.”

Everyone files out of the room and Christine and Taylor head back to the lab.

Burnsom hears a knock on his office door. “Come in.”