The Meridian Ascent (Rho Agenda Assimilation Book 3) Read online

  “So?”

  “So the mass of any particle of matter is proportional to the sum of all the frequencies that make up the wave packet.”

  Janet frowned. “Right now I need you focused on this meeting.”

  Across the table, Heather’s eyes narrowed but she managed to stifle an angry retort.

  “What’s our current manufacturing status?” Janet asked.

  “As of this morning, we’ve replaced all of the twenty-three hundred combat robots and drones lost in our assault on the German wormhole gateway,” Heather said. “We’ve also replaced all of the micro-bots expended within the gateway cavern. The newest of our matter disrupter-synthesizers will be operational in the next few days and directly tied into the upgraded molecular manufacturing system.”

  “When do you think the MDS will be fully operational?”

  Janet saw Heather’s eyes fade to milky white. No matter how many times she watched the savant go deep into her visions of probable futures, the act still sent a chill up her spine.

  Heather came out of her vision. “Tuesday.”

  “Excellent. What about you, Mark?”

  “The prototype for our new stasis field generator is giving us some problems.”

  “How so?”

  “According to Dad and Fred Smythe, it starts up correctly but develops a spiraling instability over the course of the next ten minutes. I’ve confirmed with Heather that there’s nothing wrong with the design, but its Power-draw is placing too much stress on the materials within the walls of the resonator cavity. It looks like we won’t be able to fix it until the new MDS is operational next week. That will enable us to create a stronger version of the alloy.”

  Janet frowned. “I want you to stop all further testing of the prototype. It’s not worth getting someone killed.”

  “We’ve already shut it down. On the plus side, in addition to the new Earth gate we installed with the Native People’s Alliance in Bolivia, the Romanian arm of the Safe Earth resistance is scheduled to take delivery of another Earth gate three and a half hours from now. We’ve already shown their people how to activate the construction robots that will assemble the gate and its cold-fusion power supply.”

  Heather Smythe had based the design of the Earth gates on the Kasari wormhole gates that provided stepping-stones to the stars. But these required only a fraction of the power of their alien counterparts, with a maximum range that extended from Earth to just beyond lunar orbit. When they connected one of these gates to another somewhere on Earth, they provided instantaneous bidirectional transport.

  Janet shifted her attention to her son. “Rob?” she asked.

  “Eos and I have been helping Jamal, Eileen, and Denise with their cyber-warfare attacks. I’ll let them brief you on that, but it’s not going great.”

  “He’s not wrong,” said Jamal Glover. “The world’s a freaking mess and getting worse by the day. Even though we’ve been able to hide our tracks from the Federation Security Service, the NSA, and the other UFNS intelligence agencies, that’s not helping our Safe Earth political allies. We’re losing more Safe Earth resistance cells every week.”

  Janet studied the handsome man in the 1920s-style suit, complete with shoe-covering black-and-white spats. Although today he wasn’t wearing his trademark black fedora with white hatband, that accessory, along with his cocky grin, usually completed the look. This morning the smile was missing. Given their situation, Janet couldn’t blame him for that.

  “That’s why we need those Earth gates up and running,” she said.

  “Yes,” said Eileen, “but even if we start funneling combat robots and weapons through those gates, we can’t compete with the numbers the UFNS military can throw at our allies. I think their best bet is to disappear into society and lay low.”

  “And wait for what?” Janet asked, unable to keep the frustration out of her voice. “For the UFNS to start building another gateway? Our odds don’t improve with time.”

  “No, they don’t,” said Heather. “Not unless we can come up with a game-changing technology.”

  “Hopefully one that won’t wipe out the world,” said Mark.

  Janet saw Heather shrug and understood what she was feeling. The world war gathering on the horizon didn’t look like the happy-ending kind, not for them and not for the rest of humanity.

  Once again, her thoughts turned to Jack. If he were here, he would say something about changing the rules. But Jack wasn’t here to do his crazy stuff. So if Janet wanted to save Rob, her friends, and the concept of human liberty, she was going to have to woman up and take this operation to the next level.

  Janet rose to her feet and looked from one person to the other, feeling the muscles in her jaws tighten.

  “I want the upgraded matter disrupter-synthesizer finished. Then the new stasis field generator. After that, we’ll figure out how to change the game. Go make it happen.”

  Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked out of the room.

  CHAPTER 4

  MERIDIAN ASCENT, DEEP SPACE

  57 Earth Days After Rechristening (MA Day 57)

  The Meridian Ascent, the vessel formerly known as the Rho Ship, emerged from a wormhole just outside the Scion system, smoothly transitioning into subspace to provide the necessary inertial damping to make the trip survivable. As the starship completed the maneuver, Jennifer Smythe released the stasis field that had cradled her, watching as Captain Raul and Dgarra did the same. Wearing a formfitting black-and-purple uniform that completed her lifelike holographic projection, the female AI whom Raul had named VJ stood to his right as he leaned back in his translucent blue captain’s chair.

  Despite the starship’s smooth arrival, Jennifer had to concentrate to relieve the tension that had worked its way into her muscles. The decision to return to Scion had not been an easy one. She had argued that they should make the trip to Earth instead. But VJ’s breakthrough had decided the issue. So, whether Jennifer liked it or not, Scion was now their target.

  In the eight weeks that the crew had spent in space, having fled twenty-three light-years from Scion, they had made several significant technological breakthroughs. The one that had improved the quality of their lives the most was VJ’s creation of a food synthesizer. This was a small MDS that could analyze the composition of any food placed within it and thereafter perfectly re-create the cuisine. Unfortunately, what lay in the ship’s stores didn’t quite qualify as gourmet fare.

  The stash consisted of an assortment of frozen fish from one of Scion’s lakes and the few remaining military meals called MREs. On the positive side, these contained salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce, some candy, and desserts, along with entrées that included spaghetti in meat sauce, beans, and rice.

  But the breakthrough that had brought them here had been VJ’s adaptation of the serum that had disabled the cortical array of Kasari nanobots, which had robbed Jennifer of her free will. VJ had created a software-only version of the governing algorithm. The crew intended to use that computer virus to infect the primary router that linked the assimilated minds on Scion to the Kasari hive-mind.

  If all went well, the virus would restore the free will of the assimilated population on Scion and then spread through the wormhole gateway to infect other Kasari worlds. It would not change the minds of any who wanted to be a part of the collective but would give those who had been forced to assimilate a chance to resist. More important, by disrupting the cortical nanobot array within each being, the virus would destroy the mental links to the Kasari hive-mind.

  As the Meridian Ascent transitioned out of subspace, Jennifer looked to her left, where Dgarra sat in the chair designated for the starship’s tactical officer. The seven-foot-tall warrior still carried the regal bearing of the general who had once been the Koranthian Empire’s second most powerful leader. The ridges of bone that formed his eyebrows extended up over the top of his dark-skinned, hairless head. She was tempted to reach out and stroke those twin crown-bones she had on
ce found so intimidating. Instead, she gently touched his thoughts, applying a soft caress that would soothe without distracting him.

  General Dgarra’s warriors had captured her on the planet Scion. Dgarra had made her a slave and sent her into the tunnels to toil and die. But she hadn’t died. She had grown strong. As Dgarra watched her work and saw her fight at his side against the Kasari invaders, he had come to respect her, eventually making her a ward of his house and his aide-de-camp. And over the months that followed, they had fallen in love.

  But Dgarra was no longer the heir to the Koranthian throne. He was a wanted criminal with a death sentence awaiting him should he return to his people. Like the rest of his new allies, he had accepted his position in the ship’s crew. Captain Raul had designated Dgarra the tactical officer, VJ the science officer, and Jennifer his first officer. Due to her empathic and telepathic augmentations, she also served as the ship’s communications officer.

  “Performing long-range worm-fiber scans of the outer Scion system,” said Dgarra in his deep voice.

  Jennifer still felt a little strange hearing Dgarra speak English. The headset that VJ had created for him connected his mind to the starship’s neural net. It had taught him the language, just as that connection had taught the Koranthian language to Raul and VJ. Jennifer felt a small surge of pride at the thought that she had learned to speak and understand an alien tongue the hard way.

  “Any sign of Kasari presence?” asked Raul.

  “None within sensor range. All of the Kasari ships must be staying closer to Scion.”

  Jennifer felt herself nod. That was good news. It would have been nice to be able to scan normal-space from within subspace. Instead, they had been forced to drop out of subspace outside the Scion system to make sure that the outer planets were clear.

  “VJ,” said Raul, “plot a subspace course that will bring us out behind the outermost planet in the system.”

  “Already done.”

  That VJ could anticipate what Raul was about to order didn’t surprise Jennifer, given their shared connection to the ship’s neural net, but the assumptive nature of VJ’s action was a little creepy. So was the arrogant smile that she flashed Jennifer.

  “Fine,” Raul said. “Make it happen.”

  By now Jennifer was so used to the subspace transition that she barely noticed it. Unlike a wormhole transit, there was no need to wrap herself in a protective stasis cocoon. The subspace maneuver took just over a minute.

  When the Meridian Ascent shifted back into normal-space, the sensors pumped imagery of the gaseous blue giant and its twenty-one moons into Jennifer’s mind. From the ship’s current position, only a thin halo could be seen in the visible spectrum, but infrared showed the raging storms within the planet’s atmosphere.

  Dgarra’s voice drew her attention to the worm-fiber viewers under his control.

  “Long-range sensors have identified thirteen Kasari fast-attack spacecraft around Scion. Another twenty-seven are scattered throughout the system.”

  “Wow,” said Raul. “They’ve tripled their presence since we left the planet.”

  Jennifer tweaked the neural net, filling her mind with the same data and imagery that Dgarra was seeing. Apparently, the subspace capabilities that the Meridian Ascent had demonstrated when VJ and Raul had rescued Dgarra and Jennifer had alarmed the Kasari. They now deployed an unusually large contingent of military might for the assimilation of a single planet. The collective usually relied on a welcoming indigenous population to do most of the fighting.

  But the obvious reinforcements weren’t what constricted Jennifer’s throat. What additional security measures had the Kasari put in place on Scion?

  “I recommend aborting this operation,” she said.

  “Just because they have more ships circling the planet doesn’t change anything,” said VJ. “We can still identify where the primary router is located, pop out of subspace at the appropriate location, and insert the virus before they know what we’re trying to do. We’ll be gone long before the fast-attack ships can respond.”

  “That’s assuming you can penetrate the encryption on that device,” said Jennifer.

  “I guarantee it.”

  Jennifer felt her temples throb. “And what if you’re wrong?”

  Dgarra turned his gaze on Jennifer. “The improvements we’ve made to the stasis field generator should protect us long enough for VJ to complete her task,” he said. “We’ll be back in subspace before the Kasari can target enough firepower to penetrate our shielding. This is our only chance to save my planet. And it might just save yours as well.”

  As much as she hated to argue with Dgarra, she had to voice her worry.

  “We can’t use the worm fibers to scan Scion to find the router. The Kasari will detect them. We might be walking into a trap.”

  “So what?” asked VJ. “They can’t tell where the scan originated because the worm fibers are just tiny space-time folds.”

  “So far,” said Jennifer, “we’ve positioned the worm-fiber viewers in empty space, looking for the fast-attack ships. If we were to scan inside one of those ships or in a heavily instrumented area on Scion, such as inside the gateway facility, the Kasari would be alerted to our presence. After that, you can bet they’ll be watching for signs of a subspace transition like the kind we did in ArvaiKheer.”

  “That’s why you designed the micro-drones. They’re so small that we can wrap them in a subspace bubble and send them into the city of Orthei with a pop no louder than a hand clap.”

  Jennifer bit her lower lip. Damn, VJ was irritating. But she was also right.

  Raul interrupted the argument. “How many of the micro-drones do we currently have?”

  “Nineteen,” Jennifer said. “Not nearly enough for a decent search.”

  “And if we went into full-scale production?”

  Jennifer paused to consider this. “It’s not just them. We would have to make the small subspace field generators and the super-capacitors to power them. If we devote the primary MDS and the molecular assembler to that task, we could produce six, possibly even seven, per hour.”

  “I could optimize your process,” said VJ, “increasing the efficiency by 53.7 percent.”

  “Of course you could,” said Jennifer under her breath.

  “I didn’t catch that,” said Raul.

  “Never mind.”

  Once again, Jennifer caught the hint of a smile on VJ’s softly glistening lips.

  Dgarra spoke. “Captain, I recommend that we exit this star system and invest two weeks in manufacturing an enhanced micro-drone capability. It may give us the edge that we need to confront the increased Kasari military presence on and around Scion.”

  Raul leaned back in his chair. “Agreed. VJ, take us out of here.”

  “Specific location?”

  “Somewhere we can’t be seen. Use your best judgment.”

  As VJ initiated the subspace transition, Jennifer found herself scowling at Raul. Best judgment indeed.

  Kasari Headquarters, Orthei, Scion

  Kasari group commander Shalegha surveyed her operations center, situated in the tallest of the skyscrapers in the Eadric capital of Orthei. During the time since the humans had rescued General Dgarra and escaped Scion aboard the stolen Kasari world ship, the Kasari had almost completed the assimilation of the planet’s winged Eadric race. Having signed an armistice treaty with the Koranthian emperor, Magtal, the Eadric and Kasari forces under Shalegha’s command had ceased all combat operations.

  She had no doubt that the Koranthians would have to be dealt with at some later point in time. Since the subterranean warrior race had oddly structured brains that made assimilation into the Kasari hive-mind impossible, Shalegha was left with one option: extermination. But for now, keeping the peace better served her purpose.

  The additional fast-attack ships she had requested were positioned to dissuade the humans from returning aboard the stolen world ship. Shalegha was disappointed tha
t she would be denied the opportunity to examine the major upgrades that the humans had made to that vessel. They had somehow managed to give the ship the ability to enter and travel through subspace.

  Although Shalegha could not be sure that the rogue crew had achieved faster-than-light travel in subspace, it was still a dangerous possibility. Even more disturbing, the humans had engineered a mechanism that allowed them to survive as the world ship passed through a wormhole of its own creation, something the Kasari had never managed to accomplish.

  Regardless, the rogue crew and their altered starship posed no significant threat to Scion’s assimilation. Within twenty-two Scion days, that task would be completed. Then Shalegha could reconsider the truce between the Kasari and the Koranthian Empire.

  CHAPTER 5

  PARTHIAN, QUOL, ALTREIAN SYSTEM

  Twice Bound Era (TBE), Orbday 9

  Jack had to give the Altreians credit. Artistic beauty was a deeply ingrained part of their culture, something they incorporated into anything they bothered to build or create, and the Parthian, the building that formed the seat of the Altreian government, represented the epitome of their art. Seen from above, the structure looked like a gigantic glass teardrop laid on its side and sliced into multicolored layers. The topmost governmental floors shifted through deep shades of magenta that transitioned through purples and blues. Levels descended into spirals of orange laced with greens before shifting back to dark blue at the bottom of the structure. The residences lined the right side of the teardrop, resembling tiny orange bubbles carved into a translucent surface.

  With his hands clasped behind his back, Jack Gregory, in Khal Teth’s black-uniformed body, stood at the outer wall in the overlord’s chambers, an ivory blade strapped to each thigh. Far beyond that wall, the magnificent magenta orb of Altreia hung low on the horizon, its position in the sky a constant as seen from the Parthian on this tidally locked world of Quol. Higher in the twilight sky, bright stars bejeweled the Krell Nebula’s orange lace.