Chapter 6       "That's the last of it." stated Longfeather. "What are you going to do with all this stuff?" Vince Pellegrino popped open one of the small rectangular crates and removed its contents. "I'm making changes to my jump armor." Longfeather glanced at the weapon Pellegrino had removed. "A slugthrower?" Pellegrino popped out the circular ammo holder and loaded six bullets into it. "I think the technical term for it is revolver. They use old fashioned gun powder in the bullets." He fitted the weapon back together and spun the barrel. Locking the hammer, he took aim at a rations can 30 yards away and pulled the trigger. The can spun backward as meat paste splattered out of it. "Still effective though. Armor piercing rounds, these should do the job." "And what job might that be?" asked Longfeather. Vince holstered the weapon in his belt and began loading the remaining crates onto a hover-platform for transport. "The usual one. Ya know, saving the human race and all that." With the remaining crates loaded, Vince activated the platform and began pushing it out of the storage hold. Looking unconvinced by his answer, Longfeather asked, "You expect me to believe that?" "See you back on the Vigilance, Lieutenant." Longfeather watched him leave saying nothing further until he was gone from sight. "That's what I thought." * * *       "You think she'll make it?" asked Sue. Stan was staring at Nara through the observation window of her room. "Hope so." He turned away, leaning against the window he was looking through. "Its funny really." "How so?" asked Sue. "We never stopped to think about it, but we know we're all going to die eventually. But when it came to the squad - past and present - I never thought any of us would go quietly." "Out with a bang instead of a whimper?" offered Sue. "Yeah. Nara dying like this, well it just don't seem right, ya know?" "Whenever any life ends before its appointed time, it never seems right." Sue and Stan glanced to their left, noting the Eltorian that now stood there. Stan stuttered out a response, "Uh, Counselor Zairum, where - I mean - what?" "Am I doing here?" finished Zairum. "Checking on one I have come to show concern for." He placed a hand on the glass. "Tell me, is she as worse off as you say?" "It...doesn't look good, sir." answered Sue. Zairum closed his eyes a moment and reopened them. "May I speak with her physician?" "Yeah, sure." replied Stan. "Right this way."       When they found him, Dr. Martin was hunched over a microscope in one of the medical labs. He was intently studying something. "Astounding." he whispered to himself. "What?" Martin jumped back, almost knocking over the scope in the process. He quickly composed himself. "Lieutenants, Counselor. In the future, make a note of not doing that." "Sorry, Doc. The counselor here was wondering if you have anything new to report." "As a matter of fact, I do. Have a look at this." One by one, the trio took turns looking through the scope. "It looks like a blood sample." guessed Sue. "Exactly right. As you've all just seen, it is completely normal. When tested it displays no signs of illness." "Whose blood is this?" asked Zairum. "Mrs. Sterling's, or to be more precise, the unborn child of Mrs. Sterling." "I don't understand." said Sue. "I thought you said both children were infected with the poison." "Both children?" asked Zairum. "She's carrying twins." blurted out Stan. As Zairum digested the implications of the statement, Dr. Martin began to answer Sue Worthington. "Originally I had thought so. But the child was not showing any of the signs of distress that its twin was. Curious, I took a blood sample from that child's umbilical cord. And as you can see, the sample is perfectly healthy." "Any idea what the cause is?" asked Stan. "Yes. I've discovered some unusual substances in the child's blood. After further investigation, I've determined that these are most likely waste products from a catabolic reaction with the poison in the child's system." "Huh?" said Stan. "The child is metabolizing the poison, breaking it down into harmless by-products. The agent counteracting the poison appears to be an enzyme that the child produces naturally." "Is that possible?" asked Worthington. "The evidence speaks for itself. But to further test my hypothesis I set up an experiment using a sample from Mrs. Sterling herself." He stood up and walked down to the edge of the lab bench. "It should be ready about now."       He removed a small test tube containing a blood sample. "I have here a sample of Mr. Sterling's blood. I've added to it a measure of the immune child's blood along with some anticoagulant and let it sit in an incubator for the past 45 minutes." He withdrew a drop of blood from the vile using a syringe and placed it on a slide. "Let's have a look." He ran back to his scope and began focusing it on the slide. He smiled at what he saw. "I believe I'm onto something here. The sample appears healthy. Of course, we'll have to run a series of tests on the sample to be sure." He pressed a button on the wall next to the lab bench. "This is Dr. Martin. I need a full work up on a blood sample. Send someone up to my lab immediately." "So if this works, you have a way to save Nara?" asked Stan. "Lets not jump to conclusions. There is a world of difference between an invitro and invivo experiment. We need to run more tests first. If what I suspect is true, then we still need to isolate the enzyme from the sample we have and artificially replicate it. That will take time and it may not necessarily work." Zairum was listening intently to the conversation when he decided to contribute. "She is alive now, Doctor. And where there is life, there is hope...thanks to you. Do what you must." Zairum motioned to Sue and Stan as he turned to leave. "Let us leave him, for he has much to do." * * *       Mandy slowly trudged down the hallway. She stopped in front of a specific door and withdrew a key card from her pocket. After running it through the lock, the door opened. Mandy stepped inside, shutting the door behind her. She had left the hospital early, against doctor's orders and without telling Takagi. She began to strip off her worn clothing and tossed it on her bed. She flopped into its center feeling like a passenger after a train wreak. She lay there for a good fifteen minutes, threatening to drift off to sleep when she shook awake. She stood up, yawned and stretched, then headed into the bathroom for a shower.       The warm water of the shower made Mandy feel much better. She dipped into her closet for a set of pajamas, and after putting them on, went back to her bed. The clothes laying there were filthy and torn. She gathered them up and took them into the kitchen where she began dumping them into the waste disposal unit. She paused with the jacket. For the first time it dawned on her what she was really doing. She screwed up, and instead of dealing with it she was trying to forget it by destroying all evidence of that mistake. She closed the door to the waste unit and tucked the jacket under one arm. Finished in the kitchen, she returned to the bedroom and sat on the edge of her bed. She held the jacket in her lap and stared at it. She let the emotions and experiences of the previous night wash over her. Her mind dissected her recollections, trying to come up with every possible variation on that night's events. After a time the myriad swamp that represented Mandy's mind no longer wished to dwell on such possibilities. She focused, pausing on the moment she lost the conflict with the large Eltorian. She remembered everything, the look on his face, the size of his weapon, the ease with which he defected her. All he had to do was pull the trigger and... Mandy winced and drew the jacket close, her mortal mind unwilling to ponder the finality of that outcome. She took a deep breath and released the garment she now held in a bear hug. She brushed the jacket aside, her hand tapping against it as she did so. As Mandy got up she suddenly froze in her tracks. Her jackets had no hard components, and she wasn't carrying anything in that one, was she? Mandy scooped the garment up again and began scrunching portions of it. She finally found something rectangular and hard in one of the pockets. Her hand dove in after it. "A data disk?" She brought it over to her desk and popped it into her computer. The disk appeared to have a few files on it. She selected the first one and opened it. "Oh my god."       This isn't going to be pretty. thought Kaz Takagi. Wang had discharged herself against doctor's orders and gone home, most likely to brood. Kaz had decided to just make sure she had gotten there. She didn't seem all that stable the last time he saw her, and who knew what she might do. Kaz had it all figured out though. A nice fifteen minute visit to make sure she was okay and maybe to cheer her up a little. Then he'd head back to the hospital to see if they made any progress with Nara. Remes had contacted him saying that Dr. Martin seemed to be getting somewhere. So he hoped for some good news once he arrived. But first thing was first, he knocked on the door. There was no response. Probably feeling too miserable to answer the door. Poor girl. thought Kaz. He knocked again. "Who is it?" asked a muffled voice. "Its Lt. Takagi. I just stopped by to make sure your okay." The door flew open as Mandy grabbed hold of his arm and yanked him inside. "Come'ereyougottolookatthisrightnow!" Kaz stumbled a bit and almost fell as she all but dragged him through her apartment. She babbled so quickly that Kaz didn't make out most of it. She halted at her desk and pointed to it as she went on and on about what she found. Kaz struggled to understand her, making out only a few terms like 'plan', 'warn people', 'Venus', and 'no time'. Kaz grabbed hold of her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. "Stop!" Mandy stood still, breathing heavy from all the information she'd been spewing. "Now start again, but slowly." ordered Kaz. Mandy took in a deep breath and started over. "I was looking through my old clothes when I found a datadisk. I didn't have one with me that night. So I put it in my computer and started reading." "Okay." replied Kaz. "What did you find out." "Well, I'm not totally sure." "You're not sure?" asked Kaz. "Well, I'm almost sure." "You're sure or you're not? Which is it?" "Maybe." said Mandy. Kaz took a step back. "Okay hold it. What is it that you are sure or unsure about?" Mandy rubbed her forehead. "Well, there's a lot of data but its obviously meant as a warning. Maybe if I..." As she once again began to drift off into her super-sonic version of the English language, Kaz had decided that enough was enough. "WANG!" Mandy froze, not sure what to say or do. "One sentence, as few words as possible, what is on that disk?" Mandy blinked once before answering. "Schematics for a weapon that will wipe out all life in our solar system."       Kaz stepped in front of her computer and removed the disk. "I'm taking this to Algernon, maybe he can think of something." "I'm coming too!" Mandy sprang towards the door. As she opened it, she noted Kaz still standing at the desk with his arms folded and quirky smile on his face. "What?" she asked. He casually uncrossed them and walked toward her. "I'll wait for you out here." "Wha-?" As Kaz closed the door he said, "Most people put on clothing to go out." Mandy's head flushed red as she realized she was still in her pajamas, and rather revealing pajamas at that. "Ah, right. Give me a minute." * * *       '(You wished to see me, sir?)' Malice turned from his wall if vidscreens. '(The evacuation, Arsis, how does it progress?)' '(We are on schedule as per your orders, sir.)' answered Arsis. '(Good. Then there is only a small matter which remains. One that I command you take care of.)' '(Name it and it shall be done, sir.)' Malice nodded slightly. '(Our 'guest' is no longer of any use to us. Kill her.)' Arsis seemed a little shocked by the order. '(Is there a problem?)' '(No sir. It is just...)' '(Just what?)' demanded Malice. '(Why kill her now? Let her die with the terrans to whom she has sworn allegiance.)' '(No.)' answered Malice. '(She was once a member of the Guard, serving them for even longer than you as I recall. The sacrifices she has made for our people have purchased her a quick death. One that shall not be tainted with human tragedy.)' '(With all due respect, she is the enemy and should be treated as such.)' replied Arsis. The chair Malice was seated in began to turn back to the vidscreens. '(Sometimes even the enemy must be allowed their dignity. You have your orders.)' '(Yes sir.)' Arsis bowed his head and left the room. * * *       "Astounding." Kaz leaned over Professor Algernon's shoulder. "In a good way or a bad way, Professor?" "In the worse way possible. Do you have any idea what this device is?" "That is why we came to see you, Professor." stated Kaz. "Yes, of course. This device - or I should say missile? - is a variation of the GraF technology I invented." "So what's it do?" asked Kaz. "Once launched, the device will take up an orbit a mere 100 thousand kilometers from a star. Once in position, it uses GraF technology to drastically augment the force of gravity felt on the star's core." Kaz shrugged, "So what are you saying, its going to get smaller?" Algernon moaned and shook his head, "You don't understand." "Then explain, Professor." demanded Kaz. Seeing the Professor's frustration, Mandy decided to field the question. "A star is essentially a giant fusion generator. From the moment of its birth, its in a constant search for a way to balance the two primal forces at work on it. These forces are gravity and radiation." "Is your name Professor?" asked Kaz. "You'd do well to listen to her, Lieutenant." interjected Algernon. "She knows what she's talking about." Kaz grimaced and nodded. "Right. You were saying?"       "Of these two forces, radiation pushes out of the star, while gravity pushes in. Now as a star ages, its core gets heavier due to the fusion of hydrogen into helium. When the core exhausts all the hydrogen in its core, the star has to 'adjust', so to speak. You see, its not hot enough to 'burn' the helium, which is to say it can't make the helium fuse into something heavier. Now I'm simplifying things a bit here, but because the core is no longer producing the usual levels of radiation, its radiation pressure drops. Because the pressure going out of the star decreases, the gravity overcomes it. The result is the core shrinks, increasing both pressure and heat until the thin layer of hydrogen around the core begins 'burning'. This has the effect of reestablishing the lost pressure on the outer layers. As a result, the outer envelope of the star expands." "What?" asked Kaz.       "The star gets bigger because the core is collapsing. Now all the excess heat generated from core compression and the burning 'shell' of hydrogen results in reaching the threshold temperature for the fusion of helium into carbon and oxygen. At this point the process repeats itself, only this time the carbon core becomes neon, sodium and magnesium. Then the neon gets turned into oxygen and magnesium, and then the oxygen goes to silicon, and..." Kaz held up a hand. "I get it. Look, I don't want to be rude, but is there a point coming?" "I'm getting there!" snapped Mandy. "Once the core becomes silicon it begins the final conversion into iron. Now because no further energy can be obtained through fusion with the formation of iron, there is no radiation pressure to balance the force of gravity. So the core collapses, only this time the heat generated causes the core to decay into neutrons. This releases an incredible amount of energy and generates a shockwave that passes through the outer layers of the star. When it reaches the star's surface, the star explodes." "A supernovae?" asked Kaz. "Exactly." confirmed Algernon. "With this device causing an exponential increase in a star's gravitational field, that star will undergo the cycle Ms. Wang just described to you in hours as a opposed to the normal timetable which is millions of years."       "Our sun? Going supernovae?" asked Kaz, his mouth hanging open. "Now you understand how serious this situation is." concluded Algernon. "Assuming this happens, what kind of damage are we looking at?" asked Kaz. Algernon appeared dumbfounded, as if the answer was painfully obvious. "Total, Lieutenant. If this were to happen, everyone in this solar system will die. Even if by some miracle someone managed to not get incinerated by the shockwave, they'd surely freeze to death on a world with no sun." "That's what I thought." stated Kaz. "Can you find a way to counteract the device?" Algernon shook his head. "Once its in position, there is no way to stop it. At that range from the sun, the solar radiation would make it impossible to track, let alone target. No pilot, human or otherwise, would survive long enough at that range to destroy it." "What if we sent in a remote controlled probe armed with weapons?" asked Kaz. "And how would you control it?" answered Algernon. "Right, radiation interference." Kaz snapped his fingers. "What if we used GraF technology to destroy it, mounted a generator on a ship or something?" Algernon again shook his head. "You'd be trying to target something which possesses a minuscule gravitational field while it stands near the largest source of gravity in this solar system. You would have better luck shooting a needle out of a haystack from sixty kilometers away." Kaz pounded his hand on a lab bench. "Is there no way to prevent this!?" "I didn't say that, Lieutenant. There is always a way." "Well, what is it?" demanded Kaz. "Stop the device from being launched." stated Mandy. "Exactly." replied Algernon. "So all we have to do now is find it." concluded Kaz. "That shouldn't be a problem." stated Algernon. He typed away at his computer. "Whoever made this disk was kind enough to include a set of coordinates. They don't coincide with any installation that's in use here on Venus. So I'd suggest that you start there." "What about the third file on the disk?" asked Kaz. Algernon copied that file to another disk and removed it from the computer. He held it up as he spoke, "THIS is something that I will take care of. You, in the meantime, have your hands full." Kaz nodded. "Can't argue with you there." Kaz collected the original disk and left the room, intent on contacting his squad. Mandy stayed where she was, the uncertainty obvious in her stance. Algernon packed a few items into a briefcase and started to leave. He paused to address Mandy. "What are you waiting for? Go after him." Mandy stared foolishly at him for a second, then hurried off after Kaz. * * *       The door to Shanita's cell opened, and in stepped the large Eltorian that brought her food. Only this time, the bowl he typically carried was showing a decided absence from his personage. In its place was a large two-barreled rifle. Shanita made no attempt to move, there was no point in it. He had her in his sights, and the slightest movement would mean a premature execution. "So, the time has come." "You know what will transpire next then?" answered the Eltorian. "I was surprised you let me live this long." She stood up, holding her arms out to either side of her at waist level. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. "Do it." "You are a credit to our race." said the Eltorian. "Open your eyes." Shanita lowered her arms and did as instructed. The Eltorian lowered his weapon and extended his hand. "My name is Arsis. Come with me if you want to live." On to the Interlude