Fighting for Melbourne Read online

  Abby opened her mouth and then closed it. After a moment she sighed, “I guess you’re right about that.”

  Taffy stared into Abby’s eyes and then turned and waved to Grady. He came out of the waves with Candy and Taffy threw him a towel. Three-year old Candy was staring at Abby and Taffy smiled, “Candy, this is your Aunt Abby.” Candy tilted her head and Taffy smiled, “She’s my sister.” Abby’s eyes narrowed as Candy leaned forward and held out her arms. Abby took her and smiled, “You are so pretty!”

  Candy giggled, as Taffy turned to Grady, “I’m giving it to her.”

  Abby turned to Taffy and Grady sat down, “I told you it’s the right thing to do. We owe it to them.”

  Abby was surprised by Grady’s response and Taffy lifted a shoulder and turned to Abby, “Women are not as forgiving as men. I don’t want to do it…but you and Grady are right. I’m being petulant.”

  “When can you send it to us?”

  “You already have it, Abby.”

  “What?”

  Candy held out her arms and Taffy took her from Abby, as Grady replied, “When we started our robot company, we had a real issue about any upgrades or programming that might need to be made to them. Joshua worked with some engineers and developed a small module that produces a stardrive field that can be modulated. Unlike the high frequency used by most advanced civilizations, the devices modulation is done on an extremely low frequency. Joshua says it’s very close to the frequency of the Cosmic Microwave Background’s frequency. Separating out the module’s frequency from the background radiation that fills the universe is probably not possible without a receiver tuned to it.”

  “What are you saying exactly, Grady?”

  Grady shrugged, “Every robot we’ve build is directly connected to all the others, Abby. We can send them new programming and updates to their data by simply sending one message that all of them will receive simultaneously. The robots can connect with the communicators used by Melbourne and send or receive any communications.”

  “And since every Melbourne warship has our robots on them, they can take over the communication responsibilities for the ships,” Taffy added.

  “How long will it take for that to happen?” Abby asked in an excited voice.

  Grady reached in his beach shirt’s pocket and took out his communicator, “Joshua, activate the robots to take over Melbourne’s communications.”

  “Thank heavens you’ve come to your senses!” Taffy rolled her eyes as Joshua added, “I’ve sent the programming and the warships and all other communicator’s being used by Melbourne will be operational in five-minutes.”

  Abby jumped up, rushed over to Grady, and hugged him tightly. “HEY! HEY! That’s my husband!”

  Abby laughed, “Get over it!” Taffy smiled as Abby moved over and hugged her. “It was worth delaying just to get you to visit, Abby.”

  “How have you managed to keep your figure, Taffy. I can’t tell you’ve had a baby.”

  “I go into the city four times a week to lead an aerobics class. Candy goes with me and she tries to copy me. She’s doing quite well. How are you enjoying our old quarters?”

  “It’s too big for just one couple, Taffy. You need to come back.” Grady sat back and listened to them catch-up. They were different but also so much alike. He worried about the hull material for warships but forced it out of his mind. That had to be kept secret, Melbourne might use it to pressure him to return to Melbourne’s rule.

  • • •

  Commander Alexander suddenly heard a loud click in his console panel and heard, “The old communicator has been disabled and is replaced by a new one. You may now start communicating.”

  Alexander saw one of the robots on its wall charger was flashing, “Was that you?”

  “Yes, I’ve connected to your communications panel and will be sending and receiving all future communications.”

  “Is it secure?”

  “Yes. You have information that should be sent to fleet. They should be informed on the battle taking place.”

  Wade pressed his communicator, “This is Commander Wade Alexander asking for confirmation on using my communications.”

  “Commander, it appears all of our communicators have been changed and the new frequency is not detectable by any of our devices. Fleet Admiral Mulvaney has authorized the reopening of all communications.”

  “I’m sending you a recording of the battle taking place between the aliens and Fagan. It’s still in progress and I’ll continue to record and send it until it concludes.”

  • • •

  Maranda was sitting in her chair on the new Raptor Carrier and Ashley suddenly looked up, “Admiral, communications are back on line. I’m receiving a feed from Commander Alexander on the battle taking place between the Fagan and aliens.”

  “What’s going on, Captain?”

  “Sir, it appears all communications are being routed through the robots on board the ship. I have no idea how that’s happening, but Captain Stahl tells me the frequency being used can’t be detected.” Ashley looked at her console and looked at Maranda, “Fleet has just sent confirmation that the new frequency isn’t detectable and that the communications blackout has been removed.”

  Maranda started laughing and Andrew turned to her. “It appears Grady and Taffy are ahead of us again. I really miss them, Andrew!”

  “Contact them, Maranda. Your communicator is operational.”

  Maranda chuckled and entered Taffy’s communicator number in her panel. A moment later, Taffy appeared and she saw Abby there with her, “Boy I wish I was at that party!” Taffy squealed, and three old friends renewed the bonds that held them so close.

  Grady listened to them and felt his communicator. Joshua was on the display and Grady whispered, “Please tell me you’ve found an answer to the hull issue.”

  “You need to come to the main construction building.”

  Grady jumped to his feet and saw Taffy turn to him, “I need to go and see Joshua.”

  “Is everything ok?” Taffy asked.

  “I don’t know. I’ll contact you.” Taffy nodded, and Grady ran up the beach to the shuttle that brought Abby.

  It lifted, and Abby asked, “How am I going to get back to my ship?”

  “You’ll get back when I’m ready for you to leave, Abby!” Taffy replied. I want to show you our home and Maranda, you can stay on the line.”

  “But…”

  Taffy waved a hand at Abby, “Your communication issue is handled and what are you going to do if you go back but worry and fret? Take some time to chill out and Maranda, turn the ship over to Andrew and go to where we can talk.”

  Maranda laughed and said, “Admiral Connor, you have the ship.” Andrew tilted his head, but Maranda ran off the bridge before he could ask her what was going on.

  The bridge crew stared at him and he shrugged, “I have no idea!”

  Syl was focused on her console going through a simulation and said absently, “Do you ever have an idea?”

  Andrew burst out laughing and he was joined by the crew. Syl looked up and rolled her eyes, “Did I possibly say out loud what I was thinking?”

  Andrew managed to say through his laughter, “Some things never change, Captain Tyers.” Syl blew out a hard breath and turned back to her console.

  • • •

  The shuttle arrived at the main construction building and Grady sprinted out of the ship toward the main entrance. He arrived and found Desmond waiting for him, “Slow down, Grady.”

  “HAS JOSH FOUND AN ANSWER?!”

  “Take a breath. He wants to show you what he’s got, and he needs to be the one to explain it.” Desmond led him into the huge building and Grady saw Joshua and several scientists gathered around him.

  Grady walked up catching his breath and Joshua turned to him, “Grady, it’s good to see you.”

  “WHAT HAVE YOU GOT?!”

  Joshua turned to his left and said, “It’s good to see you as well, Joshua.
” Joshua turned to his right and added, “You should come and visit more often, Grady.” He looked to the left again and said, “I will.”

  “Will you cut that out! You know I always like to see you!”

  Joshua smiled, “It’s good to hear it sometimes, Grady. Come over here and let me show you something.” Joshua led him to a tall set of mobile stairs and began walking up. Grady noticed that the stairs were just outside a tall wall that had vapor coming off it. They arrived at the top and Grady looked out at a huge vat that was shaped like a half circle, except one end was shaped into a sharp point. Joshua turned to one of the engineers at the foot of the stairs and yelled, “DO IT!”

  Grady suddenly saw a large flow of dark liquid start pouring into the vat from hundreds of nozzles located around the top of the tall wall. A dense cloud of vapor poured out of the top of the vat and fell toward the floor. Ten minutes later, an alarm sounded, and the vapor cleared. The inside of the giant vat was coated by a dark surface. Grady turned to Joshua and he smiled, “This is half of the hull for a warship, Grady.” Grady started shaking his head and Joshua continued, “The problem with forming the hull was that the hull material took too long to solidify and melted the forms around it. Noel came up with a brilliant suggestion. He suggested that we pour the liquid into a refrigerated form and see if it would set. We trialed it on a small tub and it worked.” Grady stared at the giant vat and estimated it was at least three hundred yards long. Joshua watched him and shrugged, “Grady, we do not have the resources to build carriers; you are aware of that?”

  “But, couldn’t we get the robots to build them, Joshua?”

  “Probably, but for the materials used to construct one carrier, we could build more than a thousand warships. This new warship will be our main battleship, Grady.” Grady’s expression showed his concern and Joshua continued, “You should remember that when you showed up at Melbourne in the original Rex Rabbit, that small ship was capable of defeating any warship in Melbourne’s navy including the main battleships. It did have its limitations, but no warship could beat it. That is a lesson we need to remember. New Britannia is one planet and using most of its resources to build giant warships doesn’t make sense. We must build powerful warships capable of defeating Earth’s and the alien’s largest vessels.

  “But how is that possible, Josh? The interior of the ship must be blocked by a form to keep the material from solidifying and preventing the open space needed inside it.” Grady responded.

  “Grady, the trace element in New Britannia’s atmosphere has changed the physical properties of the metal you used to build the hull on the original Rex Rabbit.”

  “I actually didn’t build it, Joshua. It was given to me in one piece.”

  “Even so, the hull metal here is different.”

  “What do you mean by different?” Grady asked.

  Joshua turned to Noel and nodded, “Sir, the trace element has softened the metal, somewhat.” Grady’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t mean it has lost the hardness of the former hull material, it makes it more pliable.”

  Grady’s expression showed his confusion, “I’m not sure I understand, Dr. Jansky.”

  Joshua looked at a dial on the wall and yelled, “Lift the hull!” Grady turned and saw two giant cranes suddenly start pulling on the metal in the vat at the front and end of the vat. The three-hundred-yard-long piece of metal came out of the vat and retained its shape. Grady’s head went back, and Joshua turned to him, “What you see here is the bottom half of our new warship. The top half is being manufactured at the other end of the building. The systems will be installed in the two sections and then they will be joined and fused together.”

  “How is that possible, Joshua? You know the hull material is too hard to be cut or fused.”

  “We discovered some things by accident in making this metal, Grady. We discovered that you can cut and drill the new hulls if you use blades and drill bits made from the new metal. It can also be fused by using the hull metal and heating it until it blends in with the hull material. These hulls can be constructed like ships were built before you arrived at Melbourne.”

  Grady stared at Joshua and said, “That means the construction process won’t take as long, doesn’t it?”

  Joshua tipped an imaginary hat, “You’re right!” He smiled and added, “And since we can now cut the hull material, we can add the holes in the hull for the scanner antennae and blaster feeds after the hull is built. Julia Santiago, one of our senior engineers, says that the blasters can be mounted on swivel mounts that will rotate them inside the hull to reduce its stealth signature.”

  “What about the missile box?”

  “Grady, we no longer need a missile box to launch the mini-missiles. The tubes can be mounted inside the hulls and they can be belt fed. The same is true for the larger missiles as well. The covers on the tubes can be raised to launch them and maintain the ship’s invisibility when not in use.”

  “Are there any other differences, Joshua?”

  “The hull will now flex if it’s hit by a solid object.”

  “Huh?”

  “Grady, what offers the best protection from a hard hit; a ridged surface or a surface that flexes?”

  Grady thought a moment and shrugged, “I guess a surface that flexes can absorb a hard hit and distribute it to the surrounding surface.” Joshua nodded. “But I thought you said the hull is just as hard as the one it replaces.”

  “Grady, it’s actually harder. The new hull is ten times the thickness of the former hull and is just as hard to penetrate. It can also withstand temperatures far beyond what our current blasters can achieve.”

  Grady blinked and looked at the hull hanging from the cranes. His brow furrowed, and he asked, “Is that hull getting darker?”

  Noel smiled, “We found that we could mix the absorbent coating in with the metal. The entire hull now performs like a coated hull and can’t be burned off the ship by multiple blaster hits.”

  Grady looked at the rear of the giant hull and Joshua saw his expression, “No, there aren’t any openings for thrusters.”

  “Why not?”

  “This ship will be using three of the advanced gravity drives developed for the new Garrion ships being constructed by Melbourne. And since fuel for the thrusters won’t have to be carried on board, there is more room for reactors and missiles to be carried on board.”

  “Why three gravity drives, Josh?”

  “The primary gravity drive will be used to operate the ship during normal operations. Using it alone, the ship is more than twice as fast as the Super Rabbits. The second drive will be used to accelerate the ship and you better be buckled in if you choose to use it. The third drive can only be used if the second drive is operating, Grady. Our gravity compensators can’t handle the acceleration of all three drives activated at once. The ship and its systems could survive the push, but I seriously doubt the crew would survive, even if they’re buckled in.”

  “Then you need to find a way for that to happen, Joshua. Speed makes all the difference in a space battle.”

  “I’ll work on it, Grady, but developing this ship has all my attention.”

  “How long will it take to build these ships?”

  “We built one before we set up this demonstration, Grady. I wanted to make sure there were no big issues before I presented it to you.”

  “No kidding?”

  “It’s in the far end of the building; we’ll go see it momentarily. That ship took more than two weeks to build because we walked through its completion. The robots installed all the systems on the ship and you know how fast they work. Once we build more hull vats we’ve determined that we can construct a hundred ships a week. The only thing that will slow us down is making sure we have a large enough supply of the hull metal and electronic components for the ship’s systems. We’re working on those issues now.”

  “How many crewmen do you need to operate the new ship?”

  Desmond had been silent during the
presentation and he smiled, “Two crewmen and four robots, Grady.”

  Grady’s expression turned serious, “Are you going to have the robots firing weapons?”

  “No, absolutely not! They’ll be keeping the missile belts operational and keeping the reactors operating at maximum efficiency,” Desmond replied.

  Grady took a deep breath and blew it out, “We should never allow machines the power of life and death, they don’t deserve it. Humans should be responsible for their actions and live with the consequences. If we ever start sending machines out to do our killing, we’ll lose our humanity.”

  Joshua stared in silence for a moment and then lowered his eyes, “You are aware that a warship is one giant machine built for killing.”

  “Yes, Joshua! I am! But it’s humans that pull the trigger. That should never be left up to a machine.”

  Joshua shrugged and added, “I think I’d trust a machine more than a human to make that decision. However, let’s go take a look at the ship.” They went down the steps and walked two miles to the new warship in the rear of the giant building.

  • • •

  Taffy flew her shuttle to her home and Abby shook her head, “This is a rather large comedown from the quarters you had in Melbourne.”

  Taffy waved a hand, “It’s easier to keep clean.”

  Maranda snorted, “Get real, Taffy. You never cleaned your quarters. It was all done by computers.”

  Taffy led them inside and she snickered, “You’re right, Maranda. But three bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen is all we need.”

  Abby looked at Taffy and shook her head, “You’re not telling us something.”

  Taffy’s eyebrows went up, “You and Grady! How do you know that?” Taffy sighed heavily and shook her head, “Ok, come with me.” Taffy walked to the center of the living room carrying Candy and said, “Open the door.” Suddenly, a section of the floor moved to the side and moving stairs leading underground started moving. Taffy smiled, “Follow me.” Abby followed Taffy down the stairs and saw a five-foot-thick piece of hull armor above the steps as they started down. Taffy smiled, “We took the armor from some of the damaged Rabbits used during the fight to save the colonies to install the armor layers above the underground rooms. Four more sections of armor were passed before they arrived at the bottom of the steps.