Ancient Birthright (36 page)

“I hope everyone enjoyed the tour and got to know their tour guide a little better,” Saigg said as he approached. “Stop in anytime, these guy love to socialize once they get to know you. Just check when you come in to make sure you are not interrupting a lesson or study time. In fact, if some of you want to volunteer to help with lessons on Earth topography and languages, please let me know and I will arrange it with the instructors.”

Chapter-41

The red phone on the desk shrilled, “Duty Officer.”

The young lieutenant in the bullpen below the duty officer’s glassed-in observation station turned in his seat to look at the one-star general who had picked up the phone. “Sir, the missiles are off track again. Not by much, but enough to need a course correction.”

“Has the target shifted course? Is that’s what’s causing the need for all these corrections?”

“No Sir, the incoming track is stable. The only change has been a reduction in deceleration. Because of the reduction the object will cross Earth’s orbit sooner than predicted and the missiles will intercept the object in approximately thirty days but at a much higher rate of closure than planned.”

“What effect will this have on the ability of our missiles to destroy the object?”

“The combined rate of closure will be about three hundred thousand miles per hour so we will have to transmit our final commands for course correction, arming, and detonation almost twenty minutes before intercept. If anything changes in those twenty minutes, the missiles will miss the target.”

“What about the missiles terminal guidance system?”

“This whole ordnance package is a jury rigged retro fit to a Peace Keeper ICBM. The active onboard terminal guidance system has never been tested, so it’s a complete unknown, sir. The design parameters call for the onboard radar to go active at a distance of a million miles and provide the final guidance to intercept and auto detonation when within blast range. With a rate of closure this high, it only gives the missile a little over three minutes to complete a course correction in terminal guidance mode.”

“Thank you for the report, lieutenant. I’ll contact the Joint Chiefs and fill them in.”

#

“Mr. President, here is the report sent over by the JCS. Do you wish to read it or should I brief you?”

“Give me the main points and keep it short. I have a meeting with the party financial committee in ten minutes. I don’t know how they expect me to win this election if they don’t pony up the money I need. You’d think the fifty million I want is coming directly from their pockets rather than the peasants.”

The Chief-of-Staff frowned at the last comment but launched into a detailed briefing on the intercept mission.

The President stared at his Chief-of-Staff, “Send a memo back to the Joint Chiefs. Tell them failure is not an option. That ship will be destroyed or I’ll have the head of every soldier involved in this operation. In fact, send a directive to Agent Hooker to start compiling the names of everyone in on this operation and their families. If this does go wrong we’ll need to move fast to keep a lid on it.”

“But Sir, you can’t fire that many of the military’s top officers and still have a viable fighting force.”

“Did I say I wanted them fired? Just get Hooker working on this. He’ll know what to do.”

“Yes Sir, I’ll send the correspondence right away.”

“Oh yeah, this directive doesn’t get recorded in the presidential correspondence records. I want this handled through back channels. On your way out, send in Senator Breathsword. We have some money issues to go over before we see the reelection committee, and leave a message for my wife that I won’t make it for dinner tonight.”

“She won’t be here, sir. Remember, she took the girls shopping in Paris for the day. I believe Air Force One Foxtrot is scheduled to return around eleven tonight.”

“That’s right. She did mention that the girls needed a few outfits for school. Just get Breathsword in here and take care of those other two items.”

Chapter-42

Universe Explorer
: Transjump plus 6 years, 363 days:

The launch bay was enormous, not as large as the ptero’s growthbay, but still cavernous.

Beldon could see the far wall, but only as an indistinct patch of green-brown that blended with the sidewalls. Some of the larger PTO ships stored here had to be over 500 feet long with multiple engines. Others varied in size down to the small craft Dantee had piloted to help rescue
Nauka 7
’s crew and
Endeavour
.

Major Rishly and the second volunteer, Saigg’s younger brother Davvie Garuu, would be piloting two of the medium sized craft. Each ship had a crew of two, a pilot and an intercept coordinator who was tasked with locking the crafts instruments on to the missile and calculating the course that would permit the pilot to complete the intercept.

After the
Universe Explorer
expelled the PTOs, it would go to full power in its deceleration to help create the necessary separation and to give the PTOs the time they would need to make the intercept.

Beldon walked over and joined the group around Rishly and Davvie. He smiled as he examined Cindy’s pregnant body. The baby bump was now about the size of a basketball and her breasts had filled out, the white skin almost transparent with blue veins crisscrossing just under the surface. She wore a
UE
made support bra to relieve the mounting weight.

He chuckled to himself at the memory of Cindy sitting on the couch in their cabin the night before. Tuuan had been perched on her lap leaning against the baby, and Dantee and Reedn had been sitting beside her as she read them one of the children’s books Beldon had scanned and transmitted to the
UE
during their months of communication. Tuuan let out a startled yelp and jumped from Cindy’s lap. “Someone kicked me,” she’d told Cindy. The three young luzzons had spent the remainder of their visit trying to feel the baby kick and asking questions about how long they had to wait for the baby to be born and what the process involved.

The two mission crews stood in front of their ships talking to friends and family.

Major Rishly and his astrogator, a young casroo female named Soleene, talked excitedly with the group surrounding them. Soleene was holding one of her two three-year-old daughters and her mate had the other one by the hand. The humans circulated between the two crews, saying good-byes.

Beldon and Cindy moved over to wish Davvie and his crewman a successful outcome to their mission. To get to Davvie they had to wend their way through the large crowd of young luzzon females vying for his attention. It was expected that on Davvie’s return from this mission one of them would single him out as her mate. The entire extended Garuu family was there along with the three little ones who were using Davvie as a perch to see everything and not get trampled.

The arrival of Command Prime Garuu formalized the atmosphere and quelled the excited chatter. “In a few minutes you four will begin a mission to eliminate a serious threat to our ship, our homes, and our families. Whatever the outcome, we owe you a debt of gratitude for taking on this dangerous task. Our human friends have introduced me to the idea of luck. Beldon has explained this idea that there is an unseen power that controls events by chance rather than by skill, planning, and execution. I’m not sure I fully understand what is it or if it exists, but in case it does, I wish you all the luck possible and look forward to your safe return from a successful mission.” His face took on a pale green color dappled with areas of pastel blue-green and light-gray.

Beldon knew from observation that the light pastel colors signaled deep feelings of appreciation and pride. He’d noted that the souls on board the
Universe Explorer
seldom if ever lied or told you something that was a fiction. The color shift in the skin of many of the species presented a built in lie detector and emotion indicator that had forced the development of a society free of dishonesty. He watched as Command Prime Garuu formally greeted each of the four-crew members and spoke to them personally. He shook Major Rishly’s hand, a human gesture that was coming into common usage on the
Universe Explorer
.

His greeting of the other three-crew members was the normal nuzzle of the ear or tympanic membrane if they did not have ears. A sign that the individual trusted the other near the sensitive organ.

Command Prime Garuu stepped back from the gathering. This signaled the end of the formalities and the crews boarded their ships. The PTO craft would launch through the center forward facing engine tube. The other forward facing engines would continue slowing the
Universe Explorer.
The PTOs were placed in the airlock one-at-a-time, and slipped away as soon as their docking clamps released. Large VH screens mounted to the launch bay bulkhead displayed the entire process.

Beldon pulled Cindy closer to him and kissed her temple. “How are you feeling? Do you want to go back to the cabin and rest?”

“I’m okay. I just need to find a refresh unit. Our baby is doing a tap dance on my bladder.”

Becca turned to Cindy, “I’m with you kid. If someone would have told me I’d be chained to a bathroom for nine months, I might have thought long and hard about joining the hundred-million-mile-high club.”

The gathering began breaking up and moving toward the exits.

Command Prime Garuu and Caraa fell into step with Beldon and Cindy. “The Ptero’s tell me the information you’re providing them about Earth and its geography has been extremely helpful…”

Chapter-43

The Oval Office was quiet and empty except for the President at his desk reading and smoking a cigarette. The door opened.

“Good morning, Mr. President.”

“Morning, Todd. What do you have in the brief this morning?”

“The first item is a progress report on the missiles. NORAD will be sending the terminal guidance and arming instructions later today. We will know if the intercept was successful by midnight tonight.”

“Has Hooker finished compiling that list I asked for?”

“Yes Sir, I have it here.” The Chief-of-Staff passed over the list of military personnel and their families.

“Have you alerted the JAG office to be ready to serve the top names on the list with charges of treason and dereliction of duty if the missiles fail to destroy the alien ship?”

“I approached the subject with them but they wouldn’t bring charges without a full JAG investigation. They demanded full details on the mission and wanted a copy of the Presidential Order authorizing it. I told them I would get back to them after talking to you.”

“Goddammit, why can’t everybody just follow the orders I give them. Okay, let’s do it the hard way. If the missiles fail, give Hooker the green light to start taking down the members of the Joint Chiefs. It’s time I got some new blood in there anyway.”

“I’ll do it right after we finish the brief. The second item, Agent Hooker wants to know what you want done with the Wilkins family and their housekeeper?”

“He better hang on to them until he finds the Dumas crowd. When he does capture them, tell him I don’t want to hear about any of them again. I want the problem to go away and stay away. None of them ever existed.”

“Are you sure you want to handle it that way, sir? If those are your orders and this ever becomes known, the party will drop you like a hot rock. They are already getting anxious about your popularity numbers. ”

“Did I ask for your advice? When I win this next election, I plan on a few changes that will make future elections unnecessary. It’s time this country had a little stability in its leadership. This crap of asking the peasants permission to lead them to slaughter every four years has to stop.”

“I understand, sir,” Todd answered in a shaky voice. “The last item on the morning brief is how do you want me to handle the purchases the First Lady made in Paris? The school clothes she ordered for your daughters came to one-hundred and twenty-one-thousand dollars. The ten outfits are all designer originals.”

“I’m not sure. I guess we could list the purchases as security upgrades and charge them to the Secret Service’s budget. If anyone objects, I’ll fire his or her ass. My girls are going to be American royalty, princesses, and they need to dress the part.”

Todd made a note on his pad.

“Sir, the Vice President is waiting to see you when we are finished.”

“What the hell does he want?”

“Sir, I think he has found your wife’s last shopping spree charges on his support staff account. If you remember, Sir, you had me charge almost two-hundred-thousand in jewelry to his account.”

“Send him in. I’ll take care of this.”

“You can go in now, Mr. Vice President,” Todd said as he walked through the outer office waiting room.

“Morning, Mr. President.”

“How are you this morning, Joseph?”

“Worried, sir.”

“What’s got you worried?”

“I came across a two-hundred-thousand dollar charge to my support staff budget that is totally erroneous. It seems to be for a jewelry purchase made last month in Antwerp. I’ve alerted the FBI to the problem and they told me they have just started looking into almost sixteen-million dollars in similar mischarges in the past three and a half years. They have agents in route to find out who purchased the items and charged them to government accounts all over Washington.”