One of the humans responded, “Boredom, I guess.”
Clowy responded, “Oh, okay” and broke the connection. She looked over at Captain Solear and said, “They said they are bored.” Just as she was finishing the sentence, the AAU’s started firing again.
Captain Solear took a deep breath and counted to 10. He realized that he was too impatient, so he skipped numbers 4 through 9 and said, “Clowy. Please ask them to stop firing the AAU’s.”
Clowy asked, “Who?”
Solear said, “The humans that you just contacted. Please contact them again and ask them to stop firing.”
Clowy contacted the AAU’s. When they answered the hail, she told them to stop firing at each other.
One human asked, “Why?”
Clowy responded, “Good question. Let me check.” She broke the communication and turned to Captain Solear. She said, “The humans want to know why they have to stop.”
The Captain had been listening because the communication was being broadcast on the bridge’s overhead monitor. Solear looked closely at Clowy. He wasn’t sure if she was aware that he was already listening. Either way, he responded, “Because I want them to stop.”
Clowy reestablished communication with the AAU’s and said, “You need to stop because Captain Solear wants you to stop.”
One of the humans responded, “Captain Buzzkill more like.” Both AAU’s stopped firing at each other.”
Lexxi said, “Computer, define the human word buzzkill.”
…93.8% Buzzkill means something or someone that stops beings from enjoying themselves…
Lexxi laughed when she heard the definition and said, “Speaking of buzzkill, Lorano is hailing us again.”
Solear laughed and said, “Put him through.”
Lorano said, “Captain, Carank and I are headed to the main hangar. Please join us there immediately.”
Solear grabbed a beam weapon and headed off of the bridge, through the caribou corridor and exited the ship through the airlock that was connected to the station. Lorano and Carank were waiting for him there. The threesome proceeded to the main hangar.
Lorano watched as the humans saw him and immediately began running toward them. He grabbed both weapons under his shirt, but relaxed when he saw they were simply forming those eerie lines. He thought that he had made it clear to the humans that he didn’t want them to line up for him.
Solear said, “Dismissed.”
Lorano sheepishly realized that the humans had lined up for Solear, not him. Good, he thought.
Like usual, Jim Donovan and Russ Brand remained behind. Lorano realized that he could now successfully identify three of the humans. He looked for Ace, but did not see him.
Jim said, “Sorry for the ruckus, I suppose we should have called ahead and notified you that we found the units and were going to test them.”
Solear didn’t know the word ruckus, but doubted it meant casually firing beam weapons at one another for entertainment. Fighter pilots in general were a different breed, and these; well these particular pilots were a different breed entirely.
Lorano nodded and said, “Yes. You scared everyone. We thought we were under attack.”
Jim said, “Again, apologies. Since, we have you three here though, I want to show you something.” He started walking back to the bulkhead that the humans were using as a barrier from the AAUs and said, “Please, follow me.”
The other humans cleared out a space for the new arrivals. Jim said, “Watch this closely.” He paused for a moment and said, “Don’t worry, they won’t hurt each other or us.” He motioned for the two humans to get back in the armored units.
“Where did you find these things?” Lorano asked.
Jim responded, “They were in a corner of the hangar. I think that the previous occupants of this station must have used them to move heavy equipment. The weapons systems were off-line, but we were able to reactivate them.”
One AAU fired its primary beam weapon at the other AAU. The shields flared and easily deflected the beam. The shield strength dropped for a few micro-seconds, but recharged almost instantaneously. There was no sign of any damage to the suit. They started firing at each other again, back and forth.
Lorano realized what Jim wanted him to see after the third shot. Lorano said, “Yes, I see what you are trying to show me. The suit’s shields are far stronger than its beam weapon. These two could fire at each other for hours without any damage.”
Jim asked, “Was it designed that way?”
Lorano answered, “In a way I suppose. The physics of beam weaponry favors the shields. The equations involved are far beyond your comprehension, but you can certainly see that there is a correlation between shield strength and available energy.
Carank clarified, “What he means is that with the same amount of available energy, you can generate a far stronger shield than you can a beam weapon.”
Jim asked, “What is the equation for shield coverage then?”
Lorano said, “Astute question. As you learned from your simulated battle just now, concentrated fire at a particular section of the shields can overwhelm the shield generators and effectively lower the shields in that small area.”
Carank continued, “That is how these things fight each other. One side has two or three AAU’s and all fire their beams at a leg joint. Eventually, the enemy AAU is disabled.”
Jim waved his hand to order the AAU’s to stop. He waited for a minute for all of the static electricity to dissipate and walked over to the suit. Lorano and the others joined him.
The suit towered over him. It was approximately 3.4 meters (11’) high and was heavily armored. As a result of the heavy armor, the unit moved slowly and stiffly. It had 5 independent power generators – two in the legs, two in the arms, and the primary generator in the back.
The two generators in the arms powered the beam weapons, the one in the back powered the shield generators, and the ones in the legs powered the suit’s motion and was also a back-up to the primary power core.
The suit’s operator was completely entombed inside the armored suit. There was no room to move one’s arms or legs. The only motion possible was a little wiggle. It was snug for a Solarian, for a human it was downright coffin-like. They had chosen the smallest two humans, and they barely fit. Once inside, the operator donned a cap similar to a flight helmet. This cap paralyzed the wearer from the neck down. When the brain sent a signal to move the left leg, the cap would intercept it and move the left leg of the suit.
Jim said, “Watch this.” He picked up a hunk of metal and threw it at one of the AAU’s. The shields flared as the chunk fell harmlessly to the floor. Jim put his communicator pad between Carank and Lorano and said, “Look, the chunk did more damage in that tiny area than a corresponding beam weapon.”
Lorano said, “Impressive. If we ever come across an enemy wearing a Hiriculan Armored Suit (HAS) we know now that we can defeat it by simply chucking rocks at it.”
Jim said, “Not quite my point. Watch again.” This time he grabbed a thin piece of steel. He wrapped one end in a towel for a better grip and cushioning. Jim swung the crude sword at the suit. It flared significantly at the one spot where the sword hit it. Jim bounced back from the recoil and dropped the piece of steel. He shook his hands as if to clear them from the aftershock and said, “Now look at the readings.”
Carank said, “Yes, there was a definite flare there.”
Jim carefully removed the towel form the makeshift sword and folded it. The towel was one of the precious few items he had from Earth. He took great effort to keep it nice.
Lorano said, “Again, simple physics can explain it. Each generator covers a small square area and they overlap with others. The shields are designed to dissipate a beam weapon. When you hit the suit with a smaller weapon it does less damage overall, but more damage to the tiny point of actual contact. I am sure that this principle was well known to the designers of the suit.”
Jim asked, “Is the Hiriculan Armored Suit similar to this one?”
Lorano replied, “I believe so. Fortunately, I haven’t actually seen one, but the original design was shared between both races. I can’t imagine that the Hiriculans would have changed their design significantly. Why do you ask?”
“I want you to design a new suit for marines,” Jim replied.
Solear said, “What’s a marine?”
Jim said, “A marine is our best trained, most deadly soldier. When the government needs a job done, they send in the marines.”
“Okay,” Lorano said, though his tone implied that it was anything but okay. “Let me understand this. You want Carank and me to design a new armored suit to make the most deadly soldiers on Earth and apparently the entire galaxy even more deadly?”
Jim ignored the sarcasm and said, “Yes. We need a better option.” Jim showed them several sketches on his com pad.”
Carank said, “Interesting. There is virtually no shielding and no beam weapon.”
Lorano said, “Your suit allows the occupant to move his arms and legs. That won’t work. The force will shear off the limbs.”
Jim replied, “The limbs of an Altian perhaps, but with some protection a human’s limbs should be okay.”
Solear joined the conversation. He said, “Why have the person move at all?”
Jim said, “The movement will be more fluid because it will be an actual extension of the arms’ real motion. This suit will simply amplify the existing movement versus creating a purely computerized one. More importantly though is that if the arms and legs move, the suit can be much smaller as a result.”
Carank replied, “I don’t understand. The suit is minimally shielded and lightly armored. It could take one, maybe two direct blasts from a beam weapon before being destroyed. It doesn’t seem very safe or practical.”
Lorano said, “Plus, there is no generator for a beam weapon.” He took another look and added, “In fact, there are no weapons of any kind.”
Jim showed them the next picture of the suit holding a weapon. Captain Solear couldn’t resist himself. He started laughing. Lorano did too.
Jim looked at Lorano and said, “Then design it, if only to prove us wrong.”
Lorano shook his head no. Carank through, seemed interested the technical challenge. He said, “Based on the sketch, the suit will be extremely fast. Is that the plan, to use speed to offset your opponent’s greater firepower and protection?”
Jim said, “Yes.” He then looked at Lorano and said, “How about a chess rematch. If you lose, you design the suit.”
Lorano agreed. The match was brief and brutal. Lorano guarded against the pawn march, but was completely surprised when Jim slid his rook to Lorano’s back row and trapped his king behind his own pawns. Lorano returned to the control room with a second humiliating defeat and a new task.
Chapter 2
Victor and Crista Bullpeep were sound asleep when the priority message arrived.
…You have an in-coming emergency message from the Alliance Senate…
Victor briefly considered telling the computer to save it until morning. However, Crista had now woken up so he decided to listen to it. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, sat up, and said, “Computer, play the message.”
…Victor Bullpeep. The Alliance Senate had decided to expand the human experiment. Please proceed immediately to Earth and obtain enough humans to completely fill an Alliance cruiser. Please include engineering, maintenance, and another set of pilots…
Victor groaned and lay back down in bed. The computer reenactment of the
Sunflower
’s battle had been on the news nearly non-stop for the last few hours. The newscasters didn’t mention that the pilots were humans, but Victor knew the truth. He had been expecting this order since he realized the humans had won 12 out of 12 fighter battles.
Crista rolled over, took his hand, and said, “Great, there is really nothing I can imagine that would be more fun than retuning to Earth. Perhaps this time we can get matching t-shirts that say I’m with stupid.” She made a hand sign to show Victor exactly which way she thought the arrows should point.
Victor smiled and said, “Maybe I will get a bumper sticker that says ‘My other car is a space ship.”
Crista said, “I know. I will save the humans the trouble of figuring out I am actually an alien. I will get a T-shirt that simply says Eat Me.”
Victor grinned and got out of bed. He knew he couldn’t go back to sleep. He checked his communication pad and noticed that he had an email from Amy Weisman. He was tempted to read it immediately, but Crista became insanely jealous every time he communicated with her. He would have to wait until she fully woke up to read it.
Instead he said, “We will need to find someone to run the archery range while we’re away.”
They had decided to sell both apartments near the spaceport in Solaria City and move to Human Town. Human Town is an entertainment and dining district located on the far, far southern outskirts of Solaria City. It is the last stop on the city’s hovertram.
The catch or shtick to the place was before one could enter the district, one had to paint their exposed skin a legitimate human color. Patrons could choose either white, black, brown, or yellow. For those daring souls who wanted the full effect, they also sold T-shirts with slogans on them and blue jeans.
Victor and Crista had gone to dinner there about a month ago and had decided to stay. Crista recognized that while there were many human themed restaurants in the village, apart from the walk-in theatre, there were very few human activities that patrons could do.
Crista had petitioned the local government to allow her to open a shooting range using human style guns. The council had soundly rejected the proposal, primarily due to Crista’s illustrious past. The council reminded her that she was the first Solarian in generations to stab another Solarian. They feared what she would do with a gun in her hand.
Victor tried next. He requested both knife throwing and star throwing and was rejected. He then tried archery. The council, possibly not knowing exactly what that was, approved the request and they opened an archery range shortly thereafter.