Chapter 8
Anders entered Remy’s quarters with a single data chip.
“What’s that?”
“This,” Anders smiled, “is how the rest of us get contraband.” The Lieutenant slipped the chip into the scrambler’s console beneath the table and waited for its programming to upload into the unit. If this was anything like his computer, Remy figured it could be hours before the upload was complete. “I am going to turn your Class 3 into a Class 5.”
The idea seemed simple enough. Anders installed the specifications into this scrambler so that he could create the parts necessary to upgrade the unit. The capacity of the scramblers was determined by the size or quantity of the transmitting nodes arranged on the plate, or in some cases a signaling dish. The larger the capacity, the larger a target could be scrambled. Of course the circuits would have to channel additional power in order to operate the additional nodes, but that was generally doable.
“Class 10 and up can scramble an entire ship. The facility on LX-925 uses a Class 12 to strip away entire layers of the planet surface. We’re trying to develop a Class 13 that can scramble an entire moon or small planet all at once, but so far we can’t channel the necessary power with existing technology.”
“That sounds horrible!” All Remy could imagine were four nations destroying each other one planet at a time.
“It can be a good thing if used right. Imagine creating a green world around a lonely star. Imagine taking a barren, lifeless rock and transforming it into a wet world. Imagine creating a new Earth in minutes if our own becomes uninhabitable.”
Remy had to agree the technology itself wasn’t good or evil. Those sounded like noble goals for the scrambler, but so far he had seen an entirely militarized space program. A military’s job is to wage war and destroy. It was rare to find a military tasked with building instead. He could only be grateful the technology didn’t exist to make such horrors real.
“Tell me Anders, if the Earth is threatened, is there anyone back there you care about?”
“I have a brother, I suppose.”
“Are you married? Girlfriend?”
“I had a girlfriend, but she broke it off when I transferred to the Space Force. Said she didn’t want to deal with the extra-long deployments.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. That pretty much told me she’d be cheating while I was away. As I see it, I’m better off not going through that.”
Remy could certainly understand. He had been married once, and it was only his second UN mission before she grew lonely enough to stray. He didn’t blame her though. He could have taken her around the world with him, put her up in a hotel in some neighboring, friendly country. Their marriage didn’t have to be too long distant. He often wondered if he had been the one to drive her away - if he was the one cheating on her with his work.
Fortunately they didn’t have kids to divide up, and it had been long enough ago to consider it now as he would some other interesting story in his life. To say he was too old for another chance was a bit of an insult, but he had resigned himself to the idea that the UN was and always would be his life. Romance wasn’t out of the question in his mind, but it had long ago been relegated to the bottom of the list in terms of importance.
Anders, like the rest of his cohorts aboard the Freedom, was still young and horny. He admitted to playing the whole Space Force card back in the bars on Earth a few times before they shipped out.
“I had one Marine pissed with me because the girl he was trying to hook up with found my uniform sexier.”
“Did he start a fight?”
“His Sergeant was at a table to the rear. You could tell the guy wanted to take the Section 13 over it, but there was some part of him still clinging to common sense.”
The data chip finished loading, so Anders removed it from the scrambler and placed it in the computer on the desk to load up the diagrams needed to assemble the larger scrambler. He fabricated the parts and followed the instructions, expanding the existing plate on the tabletop and adding power cables beneath. Thanks to the programs Anders supplied, the thing could be used as a full transporter.
“So what made you decide to join the military anyway?”
Anders attached another node to the plate, thinking back to the day in college when the marine recruiter showed up on campus. “Those dress blues were so sharp, you couldn’t help notice the women hanging around. Even the smarts one seemed to be under some hypnotic spell. That was the moment I knew what I wanted to do after graduation. Sure enough after my commissioning, I met Ivy and we started going steady. As I already said, that didn’t last long because my performance scores qualified me for a move into the Space Fleet’s training program. It sounded sexier, but I didn’t think ahead. There aren’t too many chances to meet girls out here.”
“You know,” Remy began, adding his own thoughts, “the military can be as rewarding a path as any. It doesn’t always have to be about blowing shit up or killing as many bad guys as you can. UN peacekeeping forces are made up of military units on loan from various nations. We see military members from all over the world, some of whom were once enemies on various battlefields, but all come together to bring peace to some of the more chaotic regions. Soldiers trained to kill are placed in villages to make sure civilians have access to food and water and medical care. I was with a Confederate unit drilling wells in Africa. I worked with members of the Independent Union’s military to bring to justice a couple brutal ex-dictators from some of their member states. Your own service members helped us liberate a prison camp in South America.
“I suppose I went to work with the UN because I was still a young idealist. It would be fair to say with everything I’ve seen, and everywhere I’ve been, that I still hold onto that idealism. I’d like to believe people are basically good; that they will do the right thing when it’s asked of them.”
Anders locked the last piece to the scrambler, and restored power to the unit. “Now you should have a Class 5 scrambler, but we should test it before you try to go down to the planet.”
Remy stood at something resembling attention, but Anders shook his head.
“You’re too valuable, Doctor. You’ll test it on me.” Remy looked at him nervously, but Anders brushed it off. “You don’t have to send me anywhere. You’re just going to dematerialize me, then rematerialize me right back here. If that works, the distance won’t be a problem.”
Remy had doubts, but Anders reassured him. After all, he was going to have to get comfortable with the process if he expected to use it. He showed the Doctor the controls for the process, then backed away so the test could commence.
Remy pushed one button and a flash of bright, white light took away the Lieutenant. After a moment of awe, he pushed another button to bring him back.
“See, that wasn’t too bad,” Anders assured him. “Now we know it works.”
“How soon before we reach the planet?”
“Not long now, but you can’t go right down there. The Colonel expects you on the bridge when this goes down. You’ll have to make an appearance, go through the motions, then make an excuse to retire back here.”
Remy knew he was right, but he didn’t think there was much of a window to do this. He remembered Freedom wanted the inhibitors online the moment Fortune and his materials were on the surface. If he remembered the lessons, his own transport could not be made as long as those inhibitors were functioning.
“Don’t you worry about that,” Anders assured him. “All we need is a small hole in the field to send the signal through. I will get you down to the surface.”