The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) (33 page)

As the last human left the clearing the Pandora raptors exited from their hiding places. The pack suffered heavy casualties in the defense of their nest. They didn’t manage to kill any of the intruders. Even as the hunters attacked the strange creatures, the guardians were relocating the eggs. The nest had to be protected at any cost. And now the pack knew that there was a new, till then unknown hunter on this world. That meant that they will have to be more careful.

When night fell the old nesting site was already empty and the pack was moving to the opposite side from where the hunters went.

That night many other of Pandora’s life forms were surprised and had to go in to hiding as the pack of one of the top predators on this world moved through their territory. As the pack moved some of its members looked at the strange new star on the sky. They didn’t know it but they saw the new master of their world.

                                   
CHAPTER THIRTEEN

28 June 2018 19:20 hours

White House Washington DC

Anthony Le Blanc looked at the pictures in the oval office. This was his second time in the White House. The first one was when he was a child almost forty year ago. The fifty three years old miner still remembered that day.

“It looks different, and yet the same”
…He smiled at that thought. He knew that lots of things were different now. Hell even a black man was president for two terms, which was something that he thought of proudly. He was from African American descent and a proud democrat. He looked at the briefcase he carried with him today. It contained documents of his plans, plans that he tried for years to sell to the senate and to the larger mining companies, plans that he considered to be vital for the future of mankind. Even as a child he was always fascinated by the astronomy, the moon landings, the planed mission to Mars, and above all the possibility of mining out there. He had a major in geology, and he started a small mining company, a company that struggled to stay afloat for years, and that barely managed to bring enough money to cover his expenses. He inherited the mine and the love for the minerals that lay hidden deep under the ground from his father just as he did before him. His father never managed to make his wish come true but Anthony never gave up and used his inheritance and his savings to open the small Le Blanc mining company when he was thirty three. The last twenty years were a constant struggle but he was happy. He wasn’t a rich man. He was paying alimentation for his two children from his first marriage with Sidney his college sweetheart who didn’t have the patience to wait for his big break and left him after twelve years of marriage together with Michael and Janet. He never remarried after that. And as the years passed he knew that he probably will never do that again. The divorce hit him hard. He knew that partially it was his fault, he knew of her wish for him to sell his business and move and take one of the offers from the bigger companies and move to a bigger city. But in that regard his own pride and love for his own business, his dream, won over her desire for a richer lifestyle. He still tried to keep the marriage and didn’t say a word when she left. It hurt, but he never looked back. He was seeing his kids as regularly as he could, considering the fact that they were living two thousand miles away. He lived in Tooele and his mining company operated in Gold Hill his native town from his mother’s side, Bingham and several smaller sites. His boom of you could say came in the last few months after the contact with the alien ships. It was in a way funny that an alien invasion was needed for him to finally have his big break. And in a way it was big brake for a lot of Ghost Towns all over the Rocky Mountains and not just there. All over the world with the rising need for materials for the war industry the long closed mines all over the US and all over the world were reopened. The Ghost Towns came back to life. And with the knowledge that if there is an invasion the large cities presented the largest targets there was an influx of  large chunks of people that moved back to the country side.

His real brake came with the increasing need for Tungsten for the new military shells for the projectiles for the rail and coil guns. He remembered the design one of his contacts gave him of the new weapon that was being developed for the spaceships. He called it a coil gun but thanks to the resemblance to the MAC canon from the game Halo a game his own son adored just the same as many the name stuck. The tungsten was needed for the manufacturing of the projectiles for the Magnetic Accelerating Canon or in short MAC. And it was needed in large quantities. It was a rare metal, and among the scientific community it was believed that the largest percent of the tungsten found on Earth was brought by fallen meteorites in Earth’s past. That combined with his love for astronomy made him a constant driver on the goal for launching a mission for mining the large quantity of asteroids orbiting in the solar system and the moon as well. He tried numerous times to sell the idea to several mining consortiums but until recently the high prices of the space mining and it’s shipping back to Earth, coupled with the economic crisis and the small interest in space explorations, that was dwindling for several decades before it got back to life the past few years with the private sector and several countries investing in the building of Freedom, the huge space station that now orbited Earth. And after the attack the space exploration became something that was urgent. He smiled at that thought, but it was a painful smile. It took a little more than a year to make huge leaps in that regard, bigger advancement on that field than in the past four maybe even five decades and for the shame to be even bigger it was done on concepts that were made four decades ago. Some even more. It was a shame and many powerful people, many ex-presidents, and senators current and past found them self being targets of the news and the public for their past decisions. It seemed that humanity could have been a lot better prepared if these steps were taken a long time ago. And considering the huge find around Sedna it was obvious that a large leap would have been possible long time ago.

A smile appeared on his face as he remembered the ships AI. He didn’t have a chance to meet her yet but he knew he would salute her if he ever got to see her. The AI gave huge amounts of data in all areas when she first contacted NASA. As it is normal in the politician’s lives and in a world that is controlled by large corporations most of those information’s were hidden from the public. When she noticed that, and with full support from the people that were present on the ships she made all those information’s available on the world net. That hit the powerful corporations that planned to continue to control the world prices hard. Many of their secrets long hidden away came to the surface, this especially was true for the medical industry were many drugs for diseases that were known remained hidden for the benefit and the profit of the pharmaceutical companies. Many politicians were forced to resign because of that scandal and the pharmaceutical companies paid huge fines, some even lost their licenses. The world changed overnight after that.

He looked at the clock. Just as he did that a women came to him.

“Mr. Le Blanc the president is ready for you.”

He smiled and nodded with his head.

She smiled back and showed him to the president’s office. He went inside and noticed the president waiting for him.

“Mr. Le Blanc. Hope you didn’t wait long.”

Le Blanc smiled. He was in fact. He waited for almost an hour but considering where he was and the time it was not something strange.

“No Mr. President. Thank you for seeing me.”

Carter smiled at the return comment.

He showed the middle aged man to one of the couches and sat on the opposite side.

“You don’t have to be nice Anthony. I know that you waited for almost an hour.”

“No need sir. Considering the times we live in the simple fact that I can be here is a miracle in itself.”

Carter smiled at the response. He already knew everything there was to know about him. And from what he read he already knew that he liked the man. He was one of those adventurers that didn’t fear the take a risk, his own mining company being the biggest proof for that. He was one of those that fought for a long time to advance the space program in a sense with his proposals and materials about space mining. And as his advisors told him his proposals the plans that he presented in the papers he sent to NASA and the major mining companies, and the companies that were planning the next space missions were one of the best. He was a born miner with a diploma in geology and excellent knowledge in both physics and chemistry. That coupled with his knowledge of mathematics and the love for astronomy gave him an excellent background and a unique perspective about the prospect of space mining. His plans were detailed and incorporated in the reports of NASA and in the future plans for space exploration.

That was one of the reasons that he was here now. With the increasing needs for rare materials and nickel, iron, titanium, tungsten and a lot of other materials and with the four mining ships in the fleet that were waiting for a crew in orbit around Sedna and just one that was already mining one asteroid with a crew that came from various mining companies and NASA a new kind of industry was starting to emerge. And his knowledge, long time advocating and struggling for it Le Blanc was the perfect man for the job.

The biggest problem with space mining was the high risk that every miner would have to take. It was done in zero G and in vacuum at least until the asteroid is mined enough for a small base to be built inside it. One of the plans that Le Blanc proposed and that was accepted was of mining with the help of mirrors and with the input from the AI’s they were already being produced. But it would take years for enough mirrors to be produced for that option to become available. That was on option that remained for the future. So for now the other, harder and more dangerous method was the one to be taken.

“Mr. Le Blanc you know of the mining operations in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.”

A smile appeared on Le Blanc’s face.

“Yes Mr. President. I’m happy that we finally started exploring that option. If you don’t mind me saying we should have done it a long time ago. And I’m happy that some of my ideas have merit.”

“Yes Anthony they do. And that is why you are here.”

“Sorry Sir?”

The president rose from his chair and went to the window.

“Several years ago you sent some files to NASA about several options about how to mine asteroids. Several of those plans were accepted as you are well aware and are now being used and implemented on the first asteroid we started mining. But we need more…The import is minor now and we need a lot more material, especially with the new ships that are planned.”

Le Blanc looked at the president with eyes that showed experience.

“And you need a man who has experience in mining and is willing to take the risk.”

The president turned.

“Yes. The risk is great, especially considering that we have no experience in that field. There have already been seven deaths from accidents and I believe there will be more. The government’s and almost every major company in the world are busy with the world transforming and our economy going on a war footing. Several major companies are also contending for this job. They will get three of the mining ships. That leaves the one that NASA is controlling and one more. I want your company together with several smaller ones that you are working with to take that risk. It is a risky proposal and it will require a huge investment, investment that we cannot cover. The government will cover fifty percent of the initial expenses the rest is up to you and your partners.”

“What will be my role in this?”

“Your company will have complete control. The mining ships will be yours and you will pay them in the long run. How long it will be decided later if we survive this. But I need you answer as fast as possible. You are the right man for the job and it is yours if you like it.”

Le Blanc rose and approached the window. He looked outside at the sky and then to his president.

“Even as a kid i always dreamed about the stars. What you are offering me is making sure that that dream comes true.”

As the president looked at him a huge grin appeared on the miner’s face.

“My answer is yes Mr. President. Hell yea.”

As he heard his last words the president smiled as well. It was a joyful smile, a rare one since the attack.