Theogony 1: Janissaries (8 page)

“There has been much debate,” continued Steropes, “on how
much to give you and what things to withhold. We are still not in agreement. A
balance must be struck between the success of our mission and the transfer of
knowledge to your planet. It is only what is right. What we are giving you
today is the same as has been given to your people before. As such, it
should
be permissible.” He looked intently at Arges.

“All right,” said Calvin, “you have more stuff, but you’re
not sure if it is right to give it to us. Is that right?” All three of the
Psiclopes nodded in agreement. “How about if we take a look at what the mission
entails and try to help you with your decision on what things are appropriate
and necessary.”

The three Psiclopes looked at each other before nodding
simultaneously. “We are willing to proceed with your proposal; however, we
retain the right to terminate the discussion if we determine it is
appropriate,” said Arges.

“For the purpose of this discussion,” said Calvin, “I’ll act
as moderator. Night, you have as much experience with special operations as anyone
else. What things do we still need to know in order to complete the mission
successfully?”

The XO looked thoughtful for a few seconds. “Tell me more
about what we can expect from the Drakuls,” he finally asked.

“They are awful,” said Brontes. “They are everything that we
have told you before. What we’ve never truly been able to convey to you is just
how terrifying they are. In combat they will use beam and projectile weapons
during an attack, but only until they can get up close. Once they are within
reach, they disdain weapons and grapple with their enemies. They like nothing
more than to pull their enemies apart and snack on parts of them while they
beat the next enemy senseless with an arm or leg from a previous foe. Words
cannot describe, and you cannot
conceive
of how utterly awful they are
in a fight.” She shuddered and turned away. “I have seen them in combat once. I
would rather die than see it again.” She turned around, and the soldiers could
see tears streaming down her face.

“Their weapons are marginally less effective than what we
have given you,” said Steropes, taking up the brief. “In general, their
technology is less effective than ours, and they don’t use it as well.”

“How up to date are those generalizations?” asked Night.

“Umm, they are three thousand years out of date,” replied
Steropes. “That was the last time we fought them. We thought that their
civilization was destroyed at that time, although events have shown that they
probably were not. We have no idea what technology they might have acquired in
the interim.”

“So, really, everything we know about them is hopelessly out
of date, and we don’t have any way of acquiring any current, relevant information?”
asked Night.

“That is correct,” replied Steropes.

The XO pursed his lips and blew out a breath. “OK, so we
have an enemy that we can’t get close to that is incredibly vicious.” The
Psiclopes nodded. “What do we know about their operational patterns?”

“The Drakuls locate communications relays and use them to find
inhabited planets,” said Brontes. “They mass their ships and land on the
planet. Then they eat almost everyone. Some they save as livestock. Then they
use the communications relays to try to find the next planet, and then they do
it all over again.” She was crying hard now.

“We have never seen them use stealth or trickery,” said
Steropes. “They reproduce quickly and have always used brute force and massed
attacks to overwhelm their enemies. They must have some sort of scientists or
engineers, because they will disassemble captured weapons and technology, but
we have never seen them create anything new on their own. Once again, though,
this may have changed.”

“What can you tell us about their weapons?” asked Night. “Do
they have ships and fighters and such?”

“Sadly, they have nearly everything that we have to give
you,” said Steropes, “from weapons to transport capabilities. They captured
enough of our planets before their final defeat that they acquired almost
everything that we had.”

“Nearly everything is not the same as everything,” noted
Night. “What do you have that they don’t?”

“That is the topic of this discussion,” announced Arges. “We
are attempting to ascertain whether it is essential to transmit that data to
you.”

Calvin saw that Ryan looked confused again, but Night
pressed on. “So, what we have here is an enemy that is brutal and horrific,
that will pull us apart and eat us alive. This enemy will probably strike
without warning using a massed attack that will overwhelm all of our defenses
and isn’t afraid of taking casualties, because it reproduces quickly. To top it
off, we don’t have any current data on this enemy’s whereabouts, technology, or
intentions that isn’t at least 3,000 years old. Does that about sum it up?”

“Succinctly,” replied Arges.

“So,” interjected Calvin, “we have an enemy that we know
nothing about, that was nearly unbeatable 3,000 years ago, and who may have
increased its potential a hundred-fold. When last seen, they had almost the
same technology that we have just been given, which we have no training on and
no doctrine to operationally employ. Knowing that, it is likely that we will
die, or be eaten, probably both, and your mission to make it home will fail. If
that is all right with you, then by all means, don’t tell us anything that you
know that could help us. After all, we might use it to take over the world and violate
your precious rule.”

He paused. “Of course, we aren’t going to use this new
information, whatever it is, to take over the world because
we’ll be dead
,
and you’ll be dead with us, and then very shortly after that the Drakuls will
land on the planet, and all
seven billion people here will be dead
. Men,
women and children. All dead! But at least you won’t have violated your prized directive.
By a show of hands, how many people think this entire fucking discussion is
absolutely ludicrous?”

All of the soldiers raised their hands, as well as Brontes.
Within a second or two, Steropes slowly raised his hand. Finally, Arges said,
“That is not entirely a rational argument, as it relies on an emotional
approach to gain acquiescence. Still, several of the points that your executive
officer raised are technically valid and require that I restructure my rationale.
We will give you everything.”

“It’s about fucking time,” chorused the Americans.

“There’s just one problem,” said Arges.

“Beside the hole in the ceiling?” asked Top.

* * * * *

“They need what?” asked the president.

“The Psiclopes need a bunch of rare earth elements and heavy
metals,” answered Calvin, looking around the conference table. Although he had
spoken to a number of important people on the phone, both during the war and in
the last few weeks, this was the first time he had seen them all in person. It
was also his first time in the DUCC, which was a little intimidating all on its
own. He didn’t know how far below the White House he was, but the elevator ride
had gone on a
long
time. “If they get them, they will be able to give us
implants, which will make our mission much more survivable, especially for the
ground force and space force elements.”

“What will the implants do?” asked the Secretary of
Technology, Dr. Sarah Roberts. Her office had recently been created by
President Jacobs to expedite the transfer of alien technology to the civilian
infrastructure. Not much had been transferred so far, which had given Ms.
Roberts plenty of time to get her legs under her. Although the office was new
at the national level, she had previously served as Virginia’s Secretary of
Technology, so she already had a head start on implementing the new position.

“The implants are supposed to do a number of things for us,”
replied Calvin. “They will give us direct line of sight radio communications,
as well as communications through the computer onboard their ship. At some
point in the future, once we have them, we may also be able to use their matter
transmitter, which will let us transport at will.”

“They have a transporter?” asked the Secretary of Energy,
Jim Banks. “As in like, ‘beam me up, Scottie?”

“Yeah,” answered Calvin, “that’s how they’re able to get
around so fast. They transport up to the ship and then back down to wherever
they want to go. Apparently, it works with about a 99.9995% accuracy if the
place they are beaming into has been surveyed and is an official portal. If
it’s not, there is only a 96.9% accuracy.”

“What exactly does that mean?” asked the Secretary of
Technology, who could immediately see a number of uses for a transporter,
although the transportation industry would scream. “What happens if it falls
outside that accuracy level?”

“As I understand it,” answered Calvin, “if something goes
wrong, you might end up too high and fall, or too low and have your body intermingled
with the ground. That is apparently fatal as well as extremely painful. You
also might miss laterally, which is OK as long as nothing exists in the area
you’re transporting to. If it does, it will be joined into your body. Once
again, very painful and possibly fatal, depending on the nature and size of the
object.” He paused. “That’s as I understand it now, anyway. Once I get the
implants, I’ll understand it better.”

“What do you mean?” asked the president.

“Another benefit of the implants is that they can teach you
things, very quickly, via a data download straight to your brain. That is how we
will learn to fly their space fighters, as well as operate their weapons and
ship. All of the personnel going on the mission will need to have implants.
Apparently, they were going to spring this on us at the last moment, so that
word of implant technology wouldn’t get out before we left.”

Calvin looked at the president who appeared to be deep in
thought. “We are going to need to have a lot of people implanted, as soon as
possible,” mused the president.

“They won’t do it,” replied Calvin. “It’s against their
civilization’s rules to transfer weapons or implant technology to a planet that
doesn’t have a unified government. If they do, their fear is that the
technology would be used to take over the world. Once we have a unified
government, they will transfer everything we need, but until then, it is
reserved solely for the people going on the mission.”

“
That’s ludicrous!
” exploded the president. “We have
aliens that may show up any day, and they won’t help us? What the hell is wrong
with them?”

“Apparently, they have some deep-seated issues with changing
a culture’s future,” replied Calvin. “I get the feeling that these issues are
philosophical as well as political in nature.”

“What philosophical issues are there with allowing us to
defend ourselves?” asked the Secretary of Defense.

“I don’t know exactly,” responded Calvin. “There’s something
in their religion about everyone having to ‘find their own path,’ but the
Psiclopes wouldn’t explain it to me any more than that. They said that I would
understand, ‘in time.’ We were able to convince them to give us the implants,
because it was critical to mission success, but they were not at all flexible
with regard to any additional technology transfer, without having a unified
world government.”

“Damn it,” said President Jacobs, “that is going to throw a
wrench into my diplomatic plans. Did they give you any idea of what a ‘unified
planetary government’ looked like?”

“I’m sorry, sir,” replied Calvin. “No, they did not.”

“OK,” said the president, thinking quickly. “After this
meeting, I would like the Speaker of the House, president pro tempore of the
Senate, the Attorney General and the Secretaries of State, Treasury, Defense,
Commerce, Transportation, Energy, Education and Homeland Security to stay. We
need to start moving up the diplomatic push.” He paused and then looked at
Calvin. “What do you need to make these implants happen?”

“The Psiclopes are going to need a variety of rare earth
elements (REEs) to make the implants, and they will need them as soon as
possible. I have a list with me. Most are in small amounts, except for some of
the things needed for our laser rifles. We’ll need more of those.

“I take it from their name that these are elements that are
rare in nature,” said the president. “Where are they produced?”

“Umm, that’s the problem, sir,” replied Calvin. “They are
all produced in China, mostly. I looked on the internet prior to coming here,
and China is responsible for about 90% of the world’s rare earth element
production, with most of it coming from Inner Mongolia. It is also the
sole
source
for all of the heavy REEs, like dysprosium, which is needed for the
magnetic containment fields of our antimatter grenade throwers. China has been
cutting back production every year for the last decade, and demand for most of
these is now greater than production. The Chinese say their cutbacks are
because of environmental protection concerns; however, it is really due to the
fact that they are extremely rare resources, and the Chinese don’t want them
leaving their borders without making a substantial profit on them.”

“How rare are we talking?” asked the president.

“To say that they are rare is an understatement,” answered
the Secretary of Commerce, Nick David, looking down at his notes. He had been
told to research rare earth element acquisition prior to the meeting. This was
the first meeting that they were allowed to bring or take notes, although they
all had to be labeled ‘Olympos’ and treated as if the fate of the nation
depended that they remain secret. “For example, it is estimated that there is not
much more than a pound of promethium
in the entire Earth’s crust
,
although it is unlikely that they use much of that particular element, as all
of its isotopes are radioactive.”

“Is there anywhere else besides China that we can get them?”
asked the president.

“Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, Tanzania,
Greenland and the U.S. had mines in the past, but they were closed when China entered
the market in the 1990s and undercut everyone else’s prices,” replied Commerce.
“These mines could be restarted…for a price. There is also a deposit located in
Afghanistan that has never been exploited. We could help the Afghans open a
mine there. We could also get the REEs from the tailings of uranium and gold
mining, both in this country and abroad. Some nations have stockpiles of REEs
that we might be able to purchase parts of. There is also a large amount of
previously used REEs that we could get from recycling used electronics.”

“That gives us some opportunities outside of the Chinese,”
said the president. “Let’s get to work on all of these. If we can get a
six-month head start on the rest of the world, we can hopefully corner the
market on them. Are there any other opportunities?”

“Well,” said the Secretary of Energy, “you can also get the
elements from nuclear fuel reprocessing. Nuclear fission of uranium and
plutonium both yield all of the rare earth elements as byproducts. The only
problem is that the radioactivity of the fission process is such that extracting
the REEs hasn’t been either safe or economical.”

“It will be a whole lot more economical when the government
invests in helping to develop better technology,” said the president, looking
at both Commerce and Technology. “Make it happen!” he ordered. “In fact,” he
continued, looking around the room, “let’s put some effort into all of these
avenues, but try to do it quietly. I don’t want any of the other nations
outside of Olympos to know about what we’re doing. Talk to our Olympos partners
and see what they can do to help. I will also ask the Psiclopes to see if they
have anything available to help with the radioactive separation problem.”

Heads nodded around the room as each member of the cabinet
thought about ways that they could help acquire more of the REEs.

“Now,” said the president, “what else did they need?”

“Antimatter,” replied the Secretary of Energy.

“Well, we can generate that,” asked the president, “can’t
we?”

“Yes and no,” answered the Secretary of Energy. “Yes, we can
make antimatter, but it is one of the most costly things to produce. In all of
the world’s efforts so far, we have produced about 20 nanograms of antimatter
in total. That is 20
billionths
of a gram. It is hard to make, hard to
contain and hard to store, needing both extreme vacuum and a magnetic field. If
we decided that we wanted to go into the business of antimatter production, we
could make it for about $25 billion per gram.”

“To put that into perspective, sir,” said Calvin into the
silence that followed Energy’s appraisal of the situation, “each of our grenade
throwers uses one gram. The cost to fuel one of them would be the same as to
buy 167 new F-22 stealth fighters, and that’s old technology.”

“Well, there’s no way we can afford to do that,” said the
president, looking at the Secretary of Commerce who shook his head. “Even once
we get the economy up to a war footing, that’s out of our reach. The Psiclopes
are going to have to help with that. There’s just no way we can do it on our
own. Even as a planet.”

“I think they can handle the antimatter generation and
weapons creation,” replied Calvin. “The only problem is that they won’t
transfer a lot of their things…”

“…until we have a planetary government,” finished the
president. “I got it. Anything else?”

“One last thing, sir,” answered Calvin. “I said earlier that
we ‘may’ be able to use their matter transmitter, which would let us transport
at will. The only problem is that you have to have a nano-level detailed scan
of the person being transported, and they don’t have one of those kinds of
scanners with them. We would need to get to a planet that had one to get
scanned first, or bring back that kind of scanner, which I understand is
not
cheap. We may get that technology at some point...but probably not very soon.”

“Damn,” said the president, “I was looking forward to
getting to say, ‘beam me up,’ and actually getting to do it. I
hate
traveling.”

“Me, too, sir,” replied Calvin, who was about to get back
onto a plane to go back to Seattle, completing his fifth transcontinental trip
that month. “That’s it, sir. That’s all we were able to get from them.”

“OK, then, you’re dismissed, as is everyone else that isn’t
working on how to develop a planetary government, which will be our next topic
of discussion,” said the president.

Calvin came to attention, executed an about face and left
the room, starting his long journey back to Seattle. He was really starting to
hate travelling, too.