Logan Ryvenbark's Saga Box Set

Table of contents-10

“A rock? Since when has a rockattacked someone?”

“This is more than just a rock. Wedon’t believe it is from our galaxy. It is made of a substance thatwe can’t define. It doesn’t show up on any of our scanners,”Belen said.

“Really? Never heard of anything likethat before.”

“We have scopes in that section ofspace. If we look through the scopes, we can see it. But there’snothing but empty space on our scanners. But we know for certainthatit recently passed through the Terlor system. We think it causedthedestruction, although for what reason we have no idea. If itproducedthat much destruction, obviously it can’t be just rock. Someweapons have to be inside.”

“Could it be a ship instead of asphere? A spaceship?”

“Our best scientists think that’sdoubtful. But there are ships out there: two ships are flying withthe sphere. We think they are totally artificial. No sentient lifeforms. Robots, perhaps. Androids, maybe. But nothing human orhumanoid.”

“Odd.”

“That’s one way to put it. There’ssomething else odd too. We don’t know what the outer shell is madeof, but it’s the hardest substance we have ever seen; I don’tunderstand why there are two ships around it. The sphere doesn’tneed protection. I can tell you a lot more when you and Astridarrivehere. I have a ship on the way to pick you up. You’re getting thelight speed treatment.”

The light speed treatment left yourears ringing. And gave you the time zone rush. I felt dizzy anddisoriented when Astrid and I walked into Belen’s study a number ofhours later. Astrid, with her bright smile and cheery demeanor,looked fine. She did two minutes of complaining about being yankedaway from vacation and then her basic merriness took over. Althoughshe did note she would personally rip to shreds the sphere, ship orwhatever it was that had disrupted our idyllic beach stay.

I appreciated our beach house even morebecause there were three feet of snow around Belen’s headquarters.Why she wanted to locate on the top of a mountain continued tobaffleme. She stood before a mega-screen with what I guessed was thesphereon it, floating through the blackness of space.

“It doesn’t look impressive,” Isaid.

“No, it doesn’t. Currently it lookslike a big rock traveling slowly. But after it moved through theTerlor system, nothing survived. It’s passing through another solarsystem now, but none of the eight planets can support life. Thefirstthree are too hot and the next five make the Arctic look like theBahamas.”

I focused on the not-impressive bigrock. It wasn’t rugged like meteors. The outside looked smooth,even polished. Light brown sheeny with stripes of white. Long andwide. And that was it. Below it, a silver spaceship flew. It was sosmall I couldn’t make out any details.

“It doesn’t show up on anyscanners?” Astrid asked.

“No, that continues to be puzzling.”

“Whatever it is, it can’t beartificial,” Astrid said. “Some race, some aliens, created thisand, we must assume, aimed it our way.”

“That is one theory Federationscientists are considering. But we can theorize all we want to.Whatwe have to do now is destroy it. Since the rock is impenetrable toour best weapons that will be a problem.”

“Leave it to the Raiders. We can doit.”

I looked at my smiling, beaming wife.“You’re sounding really confident. This may be a bit tougher thanit looks. And to be honest, it doesn’t look all that easy.” Iturned back to Belen. “Velocity? What does it use to move?”

“Don’t know yet. No details eitheron possible weapons or place of origin, besides being from outsideour galaxy,” Belen said. “Although, one hypothesis is that sincewe can’t destroy it from the outside, we’ll have to destroy itfrom the inside.”

“It has a hollowed out inside?”

“Yes.But that’s merely another guess. We’re getting a new ship readyfor you. TheGeorgeS. Patton. It’sthe best my scientists could build. I hope it’s good enough to takedown the sphere. Since there are two ships surrounding it, yourbuddyvessel will be theNathanielGreene.”

“Great general. Probably theywouldn’t have won the Revolutionary War without him. Who’s thecaptain?”

“Wade Markley.”

“Don’t know him, but he has a goodreputation.”

I glanced back at the screen. Thesphere hadn’t changed any.

“I’ll need the Cajun Asian,” Isaid.

The Cajun Asian is Kayli Neugen, goodsinger, consummate wit, and the finest astrophysicist on thenearestsix solar systems. She is also one of Ryvenbark’s Raiders.

“I thought you would. She has alreadybeen contacted and is on her way here as we speak. She wasn’t asgrouchy as you were when we buzzed her. She just smiled and said,‘Must be time for another duo between me and Logan.’ The duet youtwo sang that night at the Celestial Stars is now famous far andwide. But you always did have a good singing voice.”

“So does Cajun, but right now I’mnot interested in how good she carries a tune. She’s one of thebest astrophysicists in science.”

“And a good shot,” Astrid said.

“Which appalled a few otherastrophysicists, but the trait came in handy.”

Belen went back and sat behind herdesk. “I’ve also sent for your right-hand man, Master SergeantRabelais. He was as grouchy as you were.”

“Sounds like Rab. Guy is the bravestman I’ve ever served with. Nothing scares him.”

“Nothing scares you either, honey,”Astrid said.

“Anything else you need?” Belensaid.

“Yes, we should always know theenemy. You have any photos of what the three planets looked likeafter this thing passed through the Terlor system?”

“I’ve made you an office aboutthree doors down from this one. I can send them to you, but therearenot many. When I said there were just ashes left, that was a veryaccurate statement. There’s nothing to see. The few buildings thatare left are in ruins. No atmosphere either. Whatever the sphereused, it not only killed men, women, children and animals, it alsodestroyed the atmosphere on the planet. When we say a ‘deadplanet’, the statement is not an exaggeration. Nothing is living onthe three planets now and nothing ever will in the future.”

“If I recall, at least one of thecivilizations had space travel, but in a primitive form. They couldtravel to the other planets in the system, but nothing beyondthat.”

“Correct; when the ambassador of theOreganians came to Earth, one of our ships had to deliver him andhisparty. Their own ships were limited. The other two planets wereevenless advanced,” Belen said.

“How many inhabitants?”

“All together, about five billion.”

I shook my head. “It makes no moralor military sense to rain death on people who pose no threat toyou…unless whoever created the sphere wanted to use it in all-out war.Which, I guess, is apparently what they did.”

“Why not? If this came from anothergalaxy, it would be difficult for us to counterattack, at least forthe time being, but we do have some warp systems beingdesigned…”

“We may need them. If this thingfails, whoever made it may be sending us other spheres of deathtoo.”I looked at Belen. “Five billion?”

“Yes.”

I turned and started to walk to myoffice. After a half-dozen steps I stopped and looked back at thescreen and the floating sphere.

“You annihilated three planets. Iwill stop you. The Raiders will stop you. After we’ll be through,we’ll find your creators and pay them back for what they’vedone.”

“Now who’s sounding confident?”Astrid said.

Chapter 3

When I walked into the office I blinkedtwice in surprise. The vice president of the Federation sat behindthe desk. We’ve had dealings before, so I returned his smile.

“Major Ryvenbark. Good to see youagain. I’m glad your last mission was so successful. I trust yournext one will be just as successful.”

“Thank you. Nice of you to come.” Ipointed at him. “But aren’t you in my chair? Ouch!”

Astrid slapped my shoulder.

“Ignore the major, Mr. VicePresident. He flunked out of the diplomatic core.”

She walked over and extended her hand.“Such a pleasure to see you again, sir. We are honored by yourvisit.”

Mr. Anson stood up to shake her hand.“Thank you, Astrid. Unlike your husband, you would do very well indiplomatic service.”

He laughed. “But your husband iscorrect. I do have his chair.”

He eased around the desk and sat in oneof the two black, cushioned chairs in front of the desk. Astridtookthe second chair. I smiled and walked behind it and satdown.

“I assume you are not here just towish us luck on our mission, Mr. vice president. So what can I doforyou?”

“Your Raiders have semi-officialstatus with the Federation, but you are not under our legalauthority. So I need to request you allow us to send severalscientists with you on your mission.”

“It’s a military mission andusually those don’t include civilians. It could be dangerous,” Isaid.

“It is also the most staggeringscientific development in the last hundred years. That sphere outthere holds mysteries and we’d like to solve some of them. We havetwo geniuses who have done remarkable work for the Federation andnowwant a close look at the sphere. Ever heard of Dr. BayBoudoin?”

I nodded. “I’ve heard the name andknow of her reputation. I would say she’s the best in her field. Ithink she’s the only one in her field. She combines several fieldsof study.”

“Yes. Dr. Ike Charbot also has astring of scientific discoveries on his resume. He’d like to be onthe voyage too.”

“Don’t know him, but we should haveplenty of room. We’re taking only the minimum personal necessary.So he will probably get his choice of cabins,” I said.

“Thank you, major. I will tell them.They are already in Belen’s headquarters, just in case you saidyes. Dr. Boudoin has already gone over the very little informationwehave about the sphere. She thinks – based more on speculation thanscience – that it’s hollow inside – and could hold at leastsome of the aliens who built it.”

“Really? That would be nice. We couldcapture them and have a nice conversation. They can tell us whytheysent the sphere to us.”

“One minor detail. While she thinksthe sphere may be hollow, she has no idea yet how to getinside.”

“Doubt she would. She would need alittle study for that. Maybe we can give her a chance to take alonglook at it.”

He stood up. “Then I won’t wasteany more of your time, major, except to say I wish you the best.Comehome safely.”

“Thank you, Mr. vice president.”

He closed the door when he left. Ilooked at Astrid. “You know I tend to be a tad negative aboutpoliticians, but I’m beginning to respect Mr. Anson. He didn’thave to come by. The Federation could have ordered us to take thetwoscientists. He just wanted to wish us well.”

Astrid nodded. “That’s what Ithought too.”

I flicked on a screen and looked at thesphere again. I also focused on the two silver ships flying withit,one above and one below.

“Why would the aliens send two shipsalong if the sphere is invincible?”

“That’s for you to figure out,honey.”

“I need a drink.”

“I’ll order you one. Order one forme too.”

There was a bigger screen on the officewall. I transferred the picture to the 72-inch screen. The spherebecame bigger, but the switch didn’t result in any revelations. TheRaiders had to defeat the two vessels before we investigated thesphere. If the ships were automated or manned by AIs, they would beaformidable opponent.

“Your eyes just lit up, Logan. Youhave an idea.”

“I sure do.”

I buzzed Belen and asked if my weaponsofficer had arrived yet.

“Lt. Remington Murdock came inearlier today raring to go. I told him he can have anything hewants.Just tell us what weapons you need and I’ll get them toyou.”

“I want a half-dozen equator bombsand means of delivery, but I need the means of delivery modified,sois Science Officer Tekmann Jones here yet?

“His shuttle just arrived about threeminutes ago. I’ll tell him to buzz you.”

It only took a minute for Tek to get acommunicator. I explained to him what I needed.

“So can that be done?” I asked.

“Sure. Those modifications shouldn’ttake long. Maybe a couple of days. I will need some specializedequipment, but I’m sure Ms. Morganthal can get it for us.”

“I have confidence in that too.”

When I hung up, Astrid placed a bourbonand coke in front of me. She sipped some wine.

“Looks like we have a plan.”

“We sure do. At least the first partof our overall plan. The rest will come later.” I frowned andgritted my teeth. “It’s tough to make battle plans when you knowvery little about your enemy.”

“But on the plus side, your enemyknows very little about you. Or the Raiders. The enemy doesn’t knowjust how tough and tenacious we can be. But he’s about to findout.”

I raised my glass. “To victory withno casualties.”

She raised her glass and clinked itagainst mine. “A very apt toast for military people.”

After we drank, I urged her to gosomewhere else.

“I love you, but if you stay I’llfocus on you and I need to focus on other things,” I said.

“I understand. But before I go, whydon’t you tell me I’m the most beautiful girl in the galaxy andyou’d find life dreary without me?”

“Didn’t I do that yesterday? Youwant to hear it again?”

“Yes. Would be nice.” She smiled.“I’m a romantic at heart.”

“You’re the most beautiful lady inthe galaxy. If you had lived in past times, da Vinci would havekicked the Mona Lisa into the street and painted you. I’d be lostwithout you.”

“Ah, that is so sweet.” She walkedover and kissed me, then headed for the door. “I’ll check backabout dinner time.”

I looked back at the sphere and the twoships flying with it. I would need the equator bombs. That’s thenickname given to them because they can take out half a planet. Ifone half goes, the other half is toast too. But the plus withE-bombsis they can be fired, not just dropped. I would need to check withmyweapons officer but, if I remembered correctly, they had a range ofabout twenty thousand miles. Another technological marvel. Hittingatarget at twenty thousand miles is darn good shooting. In theory,thealien ships could maneuver and evade the E-bombs. But if my planworked, the ships would be flying into the path of the E-bombs, notaway from them. If all went well….