Solbidyum Wars Saga 7: Hunt for the Reduviids (33 page)

“It is”, I said, “but if what A’Lappe told me is true, you may have the answer for me.” I quickly laid out the situation on Epsirt for Cantolla and explained that Báihuā was expected to take the truth band loyalty test with the Brotherhood.  “A’Lappe said you have found some way to block the signals the body is putting out with a galvanic device,” I ended.

“Actually, it was your son who stumbled on the idea.  I merely perfected it; he theorized it,” Cantolla laughed.

“Reide?  How?  What did he do,” I asked in amazement?

“I saw him and Rory in here a few weeks ago tinkering with one of the old truth bands.  I was curious; and I overheard Reide telling Rory that if they could find a way to fool the headbands, they could do all sorts of things and never get caught.  Reide was looking for some way to block the signal so the machine would always show a truth, no matter what one said.  I realized he was on to something; instead of altering the person and their brainwaves, all you needed to do was block the signals and the machine would continually read what you said as being true.  Since the machines work primarily on galvanic skin reactions, sending the right charge through the skin would produce the desired result.  Here, let me show you.”

Cantolla led me across the lab to where she had a truth headband set up.  “Now, put this on,” she said as she placed the band on my head.  “Now tell me your name is Admiral Regeny,” she instructed.

“My name is Admiral Regeny,” I said and immediately the machine displayed red.

“Now, try it again, only hold this object in your hand.  You may feel a slight tingle, but it won’t hurt,” she added.

“My name is Admiral Regeny,” I said and this time the screen stayed green.

I looked at my hand and the small device.  “This is perfect.  Except it’s too large; the Brotherhood would see it for sure.”

“I think I have a plan to get around that,” Cantolla said.  I believe I can miniaturize it so it can be mounted in a finger ring and worn as a piece of jewelry.  To activate it, all the wearer would need to do is rotate the ring so the decorative part is on the inside the palm and have their hand in a relaxed fist; by using one finger, they can press on the decoration mounted in the ring and it will activate the device as needed for specific answers.”

“That would be perfect!” I exclaimed.  “How soon can you have one ready?” I asked.

Cantolla gave me a blank stare.  “Honestly, Tibby, I don’t know.  A day maybe if I push it.”

“Push it, because we need it as soon as we can get it. This is important; Báihuā’s life and others’ lives may depend on it as well.  Oh, and one thing more, keep this a secret; and definitely don’t let Reide know you have figured it out.  By the stars, the last thing I need is for that boy to figure out a way to lie and get away with it.”

The next two days passed by quickly and without much of any significance happening.  Cantolla managed to compress her device for fooling the truth detector down so it could fit inside a finger ring.  It turned out that Báihuā wore several rings and one of them was the right size for the device.  Cantolla and A’Lappe working together could reproduce the ring in every detail and to fit the mechanism inside it.  When tested, it worked perfectly.  Its biggest drawback was that is needed to be recharged every day and usage of two hours or more would drain it completely.  We didn’t think that would be a problem, as it was unlikely the Brotherhood would question her long.

“Let’s hope a device like this never falls into the Brotherhood’s hands and they learn how to use it, or we are in a heap of trouble,” Admiral Regeny said when he heard about the device.

Báihuā contacted Wabussie and told him the Brotherhood was pressing her to meet the next morning; the ring was delivered to her via the Cantolla Gate, and once again we were left to wait.

By now, the Cantolla Gate Station had been relocated light-years away and only a few individuals involved in the relocation knew the station had even been moved.  Interrogation of Admiral Pynice revealed that he wasn’t a Brotherhood sympathizer, but we were able to determine that he had been influenced into making the decision he did by some careful manipulation of one of his staff.  It took some time to trace the person responsible and it turned out to me one of the senior officers on the Station.  She was brought in for questioning; and using the truth bands, we could determine that she had been recruited by the Brotherhood and was a God Sweat addict.  The Brotherhood was looking for ways to get their agents through the gates and hoped that she would be able to help them.  When she was not able to make gate-crashing possible, they latched onto the idea of finding the hub station location and attacking it.  They would have possibly succeeded had we not discovered the plot and moved the Station.

After I returned to my office, I decided to contact Nybidong and find out what the status was with the new fighters.  We had not officially named them Terornor Fighters, as Nybidong had suggested.  Now he had changed his mind and wanted them named Nijang Fighters, as that was what his pilots had begun calling them.  I asked the meaning of Nijang; he explained that Nijang was a Ruwallie Rasson fighter of legend who was known for his stealth and swiftness in combat.  The name seemed appropriate, so I decided that we would officially call them Nijang Fighters. This pleased Nybidong and he assured me the Ruwallie Rasson would fight even harder to honor the legendary hero.  His only complaint was that they weren’t getting the new ships fast enough.

Assembly of the ships actually went quite fast.  Because of computerized and robotic assembly methods as well as 3-D printing assembly, ships were fabricated in days instead of months, or even a year, as it would have taken back on Earth.  Even so, that wasn’t getting them produced at a fast enough rate to meet the war efforts.  The recent heavy loss of ships in battles had all our shipyards throughout the Federation working around the clock and they were not able to meet the demands.  I had an idea; one I was sure the Senate would not approve of; and even if they did, it would take years for them to reach an agreement on.  However, I wasn’t one to wait for the Senate to do things.  I had the personal wealth to do things on my own tab that might never happen if we waited for the Senate.

I called Marranalis into my office and said, “I’m going to make a trip to Mars to visit the androids and I need you to conceal the information from anyone who may be looking for me.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“Not more than a few hours; I must go from the
NEW ORLEANS,
as the only Cantolla Gate to Mars is on the
NEW ORLEANS.
  Very few people even know of its existence.  I want you to go to the
NEW ORLEANS
and clue in Captain Kerabac as to my plans and I need you to contact Andy on Mars and have them prepare for my visit.  Since they don’t require air like we do, they don’t bother pressurizing most areas; I don’t want to be visiting in a space suit, so I need them to pressurize the area around their Cantolla Gate.”

“Yes, sir.  May I ask, sir, why you are making this visit?  And will you be taking security with you?”

“Damn, I forgot about Security.  Marranalis, I need you to help me to find a way to get around the security team.”

“We can always use your study the same way we do when you get your treatments from A’Lappe, but that doesn’t resolve the issue of using the gate.  To use the gate, you need to go to the staging area where all the gates are located.  That area is under constant surveillance and is always heavily guarded.  You’d never get through there unnoticed – especially when your destination is Mars.”

“True, but I could have A’Lappe take the sympathetic particles from the Mars gate and assemble a new gate someplace else and I could use it there without the risk of being seen by security or anyone else.  A’Lappe could simply say he’s doing some gate modifications.  No one would be suspicious of that.  He does it all the time.”

“Do you want me to contact him and instruct him to do that?”

“Yes.  Tell him I said to assemble the gate in my study.  It’s small enough to fit in it; and it will save time for us, as well as making it unnecessary for me to try to sneak through tunnels and try to avoid my bodyguards.  Tell everyone involved that this is to be kept quiet; I don’t want any more people to know about this than is necessary.”

“Sir, you never did say why you are going,” Marranalis said.

I grinned and said, “I’m on my way to create jobs… for the androids.”

While Marranalis made the arrangements, I went over the reports from the Fleet Admirals.  There seemed to be a lot of activity outside the Federation boundaries that was showing up on long range sensors, but only a few Brotherhood ships made incursions into Federation space.  There had been a few shooting incidents and two Brotherhood ships had been destroyed.  One of the older Federation patrol ships had also been destroyed as it toured the Federation boundaries; but otherwise all was silent-- too quiet for my liking.  Any time the Brotherhood was quiet for a few days, big trouble was brewing.

I was about to sign off my vid screen, when I noticed a message from Wabussie with an attached file marked CONFIDENTIAL.  I opened it and found it was the personal records of Captain Dranda Gandrop.  I forgot he’d said he would send me her file.  I looked it over carefully; she had an impressive record and scored high in all areas.  All her superiors commented that she could be hard-headed at times and unwavering in her opinions, but that she always followed orders, even if they contradicted her opinions.  She was a “by the book” officer, the kind of officer we needed for the Cantolla Gate Station.  She was not the type of officer who would allow any deviation from protocol and would run a tight station.  Perfect for the job we wanted her for.  I wrote a note back to Wabussie saying I approved of her to command the station and I agreed that she needed to be advanced to admiral.  It would take Admiral Regeny’s final approval, but I doubted that he would go against Wabussie’s and my recommendation on this.

By the time I had finished the reports and the recommendation, Marranalis had made all the arrangements for my Mars trip and A’Lappe had set up the Cantolla Gate in my study.  Now all I needed was to get there and back without the wrong people finding out and all would be well.

I no sooner had I stepped through the temporary gate that A’Lappe assembled than Andy welcomed me. 

“Greetings, my friend.”

“Greetings to you also, my friend,” I said.  I had discovered shortly after meeting Andy that he was impressed by the fact I called him
friend
, and apparently it was very significant to him that I genuinely saw him as a friend.

The space where the androids had the Cantolla Gate set up was inside the accommodations for the old Mars colony.  It was obvious that the androids were not maintaining or using the space regularly.  I wondered where they were living and what they were doing to the planet.

“It is good to see you again,” I said.  “I hope all things are well here with you and your people.”

“People?  It is strange to hear you call us people.  We have always been thought of as machines by others.”

“Well, to me you are people.  Simply because your origin is unlike ours, doesn’t mean you are any different where it counts.

“I appreciate you adjusting the atmosphere in here to accommodate me,” I added.

“Yes, we have not maintained an atmosphere in many areas except those where we grow plants,” he responded.

“You grow plants?  I would not have expected that!”

“Yes there are many uses we have found for plants; certain chemicals they produce are useful in the manufacturing of other things.”

“I see.  I did not think of that.  However, you mention manufacturing and that is what I wished to discuss with you.  Would your race be interested in manufacturing some small fighter craft?  If you are, I am sure we can work out some sort of trade agreement.”

“Right now we are not set up for manufacturing more than the simplest of items.  We need better mining and refining equipment, as well as manufacturing equipment before we can undertake anything of the size of a fighter,” Andy said, as he looked at me curiously.

“I think that the manufacturing equipment and raw materials necessary could be provided if you are interested,” I added.  “That, plus whatever goods or materials you would wish in trade,” I said.

“Your proposal is interesting,” Andy replied.  “It would certainly help us immensely in our own development and colonization here.  I am assuming you wish these ships for use in your fight against the Brotherhood.”

“Yes,” I said.

“I must also assume that, for some reason, the Federation is not able to meet the demand for the production of these ships,” he added and I could see he was analyzing the situation as we spoke.

“You’re correct again,” I answered.

“Has the Federation approved this action?” he asked.

“No, they do not even know of my coming to you.  The deal will not be between you and the Federation; it would be between you and me.  I will be the one supplying you with the goods and materials both for the ships' constructions and for payment to you,” I said.

“Even more interesting,” Andy said.  “Can I assume that you plan to give these ships to the Federation instead of selling them?”

I smiled.  “You would be correct in that assumption,” I said.