Freedom Express (Book 2 of The Humanity Unlimited Saga) Read online

  As for the non-permanent members of the council, who cared?

  China, on the other hand, was a real military power. It was arguably stronger than the US at this point, though the Americans would never admit it. Unfortunately, both of them knew how the cards were stacked. US might was shrinking as they fell under the economic thrall of the Asian bastards.

  The small delegation awaiting him seemed to be a mix of islanders and Rogers’ executives. One of the latter stepped forward and extended his hand. “Mister Secretary. Welcome to Nauru. I’m Jacob Thomas, vice president of island operations. The president sends his regrets, but he was unable to put off a very important meeting.”

  Screw it.

  “Well, that’s refreshingly blunt and as insulting as hell. Might I enquire who might be more important to meet than the secretary of state of the United States of America?”

  If the man was intimidated, it didn’t show. “A delegation from the United Nations led by the secretary general. He came to personally provide certification that the world government acknowledges the sovereignty of our nation.”

  The man was trying to piss him off. “As we both know, the United Nations isn’t a government at all. And it certainly doesn’t tell the US what to do. You’ve got a lot of balls talking trash like that when we have a task group waiting to come in and free these people from the economic slavery you’re about to put them under. We won’t stand for that.”

  “You won’t? Interesting. I wonder what President Duan thinks about that?”

  Queen narrowed his eyes. That could only be President Duan Xiaoying of China. “And what does she have to do with this?”

  “She’s graciously extended the protection of her navy over us while we get on our feet,” the man said. “There’s a task group of her ships on the way as we speak. I suspect she’d take a dim view of any unwarranted aggression after her government recognized Mister Rogers as the rightful president of this wonderful nation.”

  “Are you threatening my country?”

  “I was just about to ask you the same thing.”

  Queen took a deep breath. It didn’t matter who supported this little piss ant of a country. He’d squash them like bugs if they didn’t reverse course. And if China wanted to make an issue of this, perhaps it was time to bloody their noses, too.

  “I think I’ve heard as much of your posturing as I care to. If you’d like me to go back into my plane and leave, I can do that. At which point, I’ll call the admiral in command of this carrier group and tell him to start operations. I bet the Chinese back down in the end. They certainly will if we’re in control when they get here and you’re all on your way to Guantanamo.

  “So, stop pissing me off and take me to see your boss. Now.”

  Chapter Two

  Jess watched the extinct comet as Liberty Station settled into place beside it. It wasn’t much to look at. The surface was dark enough to make it difficult to see, even from only a kilometer away. It filled an arc of sky 53 degrees across, so the lack of stars in that area was a lot more noticeable.

  Maybe once the lifters got into place, their lights would make it more visible. Probably not, but you never knew.

  Which was as good a reminder as she was going to get that she needed to head for the docking area or her ride would leave without her.

  Well, okay, they probably wouldn’t. She was the executive officer, after all. They’d give her crap, though. Good-natured crap, but crap nonetheless. So, it was time to get a move on.

  Harry had decided to send three lifters. One would make a series of close passes, using radar and lasers to map the surface. The second would watch the third land for samples and maintain an overwatch.

  Colonel McCarthy had used that term. He was on that second lifter to familiarize himself with flying it. Based on what Harry had described to her of his skills in a jet, he’d probably make a kickass small craft pilot.

  By chance, the pilot of her lifter was someone Jess knew. She’d met Brenda Alvarez on the unfortunate day that Nathan Bennett had tried to blow up Liberty Station. The woman’s co-pilot had died while Jess tried in vain to save him.

  Those terrible events had been less than a week ago, but the other woman seemed to be recovering. At least she put on a good face.

  “Hey, Jess,” she said from the pilot’s cubby. “Remember this rock is just a little bitty thing. Don’t get all excited and jump right off it.”

  While she didn’t know how much gravity the comet had, the engineers had warned her that she could indeed jump right off the damned thing. Everyone exiting the lifter would have beacons and thrusters on their suits, just in case. They’d also stay linked by ropes as much as possible.

  Jess was zero-G certified and more than capable of leading any part of this mission. She’d do her best to avoid any embarrassing blunders.

  “Don’t worry about me,” she told the woman as she pulled herself up to the co-pilot’s couch. She waved at the team of geologists that were already strapped into the passenger compartment. “What’s the basic plan?”

  “We let the comet rotate under us and get a good look before we go down. If we see something interesting, we call back to the ship and let Harry know. Then we approach slowly and explore. If we don’t see anything unusual, we pick a likely spot and go down for samples. What are you expecting to find? Other than aliens.”

  Harry had told the entire crew what the stakes were on this mission. Everyone knew about the high technology humans they’d discovered in Guatemala. They had the ship’s communications array locked down so word of any finds didn’t spread.

  That hadn’t stopped the news services on Earth from guessing what Liberty Station was doing. They were all over the map, too. They focused on Mars for the most part, but some of the guesses were remarkably close.

  The tabloids were the most amusing. Of course, aliens were high on their list of favored topics. Based on what they were speculating, you’d think Edgar Rice Burroughs was right about what was on the Red Planet. Maybe they should make a transmission in the clear calling Mars Barsoom to spin them up.

  Of course, these days everyone knew that Mars was an uninhabitable, frozen wasteland with only a trace of atmosphere. That didn’t stop the rags from publishing their drivel.

  When she complained to Harry, he laughed and told her to look up the Flat Earth Society. Point taken.

  No one back on Earth knew that they’d stopped at an extinct comet yet. Someone would figure it out before long. There were undoubtedly a lot of smart people watching them.

  Based on some of the radio messages they’d received since their departure, not everyone was happy to see them on their way. The US had been first up, instructing them to turn their butts around and hustle back to orbit.

  China and India had been right behind the US, warning Liberty Station away from Mars. None of the three nations had made any direct threats, but it was obvious none of them was happy with the new player in the space race. Which was kind of amusing, since the US had nothing to do with space anymore.

  Harry had decided to leave dealing with the Earthlings to his father. A bit of a cop out, in her opinion, but it certainly made their lives easier.

  Once the various players figured out where they were, she knew the speculation would turn to asteroid mining. And they’d be right, as far as that went. The ship had three mining setups, but they wouldn’t use any of them here.

  The comet was on the fast track out of the inner system. They only had a few days before they needed to start slowing down for Mars orbit.

  If they’d been able to mine something like this comet, the payoff would have been volatiles and organics. Water was an example of the former and carbon the latter. The scientists and engineers working for Humanity Unlimited—of which she and Harry were partners with his father—had developed several promising processes to extract those kinds of things. They could then create oxygen and fuel. Eventually, many other things.

  They’d chosen to come here not for t
he mining potential, but because the comet had shown up in a map left by one of the space traveling humans. That meant it might have something much more important than recoverable resources. Maybe the remains of a pre-existing mining complex or even a base of some kind.

  She felt optimistic. In space, any relics would still be in great shape.

  Brenda turned to the team in the passenger compartment. “Helmets on, boys and girls. We just received permission to launch. Who wants to go on a field trip?”

  Everyone said “me!” and then laughed.

  Jess locked her helmet down and made sure her straps were tight. This was going to be fun.

  * * * * *

  Clayton Rogers waited in his new office for the second official delegation of the day. As offices went, it was a bit small for his taste. And a bit plain, but time had been short. His moving company would soon see his old office packed and relocated.

  Assuming the warplanes circling the island let them in.

  The view of Nauru from his office window was less than inspiring. It had once been home to massive phosphorous strip mines and the scars still showed. On the land and on the people.

  The government buildings sat next to the airport, but he’d decided that he wanted to be inside the ring road. He needed to be at the heart of the island. So, he’d taken over an office in one of the mining buildings until they could construct a modern headquarters for Humanity Unlimited and Nauru.

  There weren’t many people on the island. Only about 10,000. The country’s GDP was less than 40 million dollars American. That was a far cry from what each man and woman had earned back when outside corporations were stripping their island of its resources.

  The natives were of Micronesian stock. An astounding number of them were obese and almost half of the population had diabetes. That was one of the things he intended to fix.

  With today’s medical technology, there was no excuse for it. There were treatments that were more effective than insulin. They just cost money.

  The cost to convince a majority of the major families to sell their sovereignty to him wasn’t that much, really. Not compared to the amount he’d already spent.

  Those few billion dollars had gained him not only an island to build a new spaceport that he completely controlled, but also the protection of being a nation unto himself. Diplomatic immunity was very useful. Especially when the second most powerful nation on Earth was pissed at you.

  The door to his office opened and his assistant stuck his head in. “Secretary Queen is here to see you, Mister President.”

  “Send him in.”

  Clayton turned away from the work he kept planning outside the window behind his desk and faced the trouble walking in his door. He’d met Queen before at various government functions over the years. His people had a thick dossier on him, so Clayton had a good idea of what the man would do under certain stimuli.

  He saw the welcome party at the airport had managed to wave a red cape in the man’s face. Queen stormed into the office with steam almost literally rising from his ears. Good. Angry men made mistakes. Misjudged people. Missed things.

  Queen stopped in front of the desk, glaring at Clayton. “Mister President.”

  The slight emphasis he put on Clayton’s new title told him the man didn’t think very much of it. That was fine. Neither did Clayton. It was a means to an end.

  “Mister Secretary,” Clayton said serenely. “Might I offer you some refreshment? Or even lunch? I see that the afternoon is upon us.”

  “I’d rather get this over with.”

  Clayton sent his man back out of the office and sat down behind his desk. “Then let’s get to it.”

  A petty man would have put an uncomfortable chair in front of the desk to make a point of how unwelcome the other man was. Not Clayton. He put a luxurious and most comfortable seat there. The impression he wanted to send wasn’t so overt.

  He watched Queen sit. The man was somewhat surprised by the comfort of the chair when he’d expected something completely different. The people at the airport had made him unwelcome, but the seat sent the opposite message. Putting him even further off his game.

  That didn’t keep Queen quiet for long. “Let me start off by saying you have a lot of gall. You’ve been dodging me for almost a week. Five long days where I’ve only gotten more pissed off. That wasn’t wise.”

  Clayton shrugged. “I had a number of pressing matters that had to be dealt with, Mister Secretary.”

  The younger man’s expression soured. “So I heard. Do you really think China can protect you if the United States decides to act?”

  The threats had come even sooner than Clayton had expected.

  “Speaking bluntly, yes,” Clayton said. “The United States isn’t the military power it used to be. Your navy is a third the size it was thirty years ago. You’ve cut the Army in half and virtually eliminated the Marines. Your technological edge is a fond memory.

  “Your allies are either fighting for their lives against Islamic extremists or circling the two of you to see what parts they can tear off if you start fighting. No, you don’t dare challenge China directly.”

  He held up a finger before Queen could speak. “And before you trot out that threat of using force to unseat me, I think you’d best be warned that I have potent weapons on this island that would make that most painful.”

  Queen laughed. “China might be a threat, but you’re not. I don’t care what kind of high tech weapons you have waiting, we can take you.”

  “If you chose to, yes, I’m sure you could. Unfortunately for you, my weapons are words and images. You see, I invited the press to come along with the UN delegation. Even as we speak, they’re getting a tour of the island and seeing the damage that’s been done here. And getting the complete rundown on how I’m going to help these poor people.”

  “What?”

  Clayton smiled. “Public relations, man. Surely you’ve heard of it. Not only am I compensating every person on this island generously for the sale of a worthless rock, but each is also gaining a new career, should they want it, and the best health care money can buy. Some have chosen to relocate to other places, true, but most of the people have decided to stay.

  “The reporters are getting the story on how their lives are being improved. Told by the very people themselves. They’re quite happy with the arrangements, I assure you. Is that the image the United States wants to send the world? Of them crushing these people under their military heels?”

  Queen sat back and gave Clayton a long look. “What kind of game are you playing?”

  “The kind where I get to keep my marbles. Let’s cut to the chase, Mister Secretary. You don’t give a rat’s ass about these people. We’re both men of influence looking to protect what’s ours, so I understand how you feel. People are a means to an end, much like money or power. What are you actually looking to change in this situation and why?”

  The other man considered him for a while before he responded. “Very well. Your spaceship is of grave concern to my government. Leaving aside the fact that we authorized no such construction, my experts tell me that to move that quickly you’d need to have a substantially more powerful reactor than was allowed to be transported into orbit. You’ve used nuclear power for that ship’s propulsion.”

  “I see,” Clayton said. “Let’s address that concern first then, shall we? Yes. Liberty Station has a true nuclear reactor. Not a large one, but not that piss ant little thing the UN approved. So what? Space is brimming with deadly radiation. Where do you think the fuel for the reactor came from in the first place?”

  “There are rules for a reason, Mister Rogers. If we allowed everyone to do as they pleased, it would be anarchy. There’s an international treaty prohibiting nuclear power in space and shipping weapons of the same nature there. What’s to say you haven’t violated the latter rule if you scoff at the first?”

  That nuclear power treaty was a fairly recent one, ratified only a decade ago. There had
already been a treaty about the weapons, but not reactors. It made the rules on weapons even clearer, though.

  The major world players didn’t want to expand their destructive arsenal into space. Something Clayton actually agreed with, though he was sure they would ignore it soon enough. If they hadn’t already. So, perhaps it was more accurate to say that they didn’t want to see their enemies with weapons of mass destruction in space.

  “I’d offer you my word that I have not, but that seems unlikely to satisfy you,” Clayton said. “And I’ll thank you to use my title, Mister Secretary. Let’s mind our Ps and Qs.”

  “I’m not here to be lectured by the likes of you, Mister Rogers. I really couldn’t care less about your tender sensibilities. I suggest you listen up. If you don’t want your commercial empire seized, you’ll pay close attention. Turn your ship around and bring it home. The UN will send up an inspection team and remove the illegal reactor. The fines will be heavy, I’m sure, but better than the alternative.”

  “And if I refuse?”

  “Then I impound everything you own that isn’t on this island.”

  “Go ahead. Make the call. I’ll wait.”

  The other man blinked in surprise. “Excuse me? Have you lost your mind?”

  Clayton smiled. “It might seem like it, but no. First, let’s address that little reactor. I shipped it into space. Guilty as charged. One problem. I’m not a signatory to that treaty. I was a private citizen at the time. And Nauru never signed it either, so I’m still in the clear on that.”

  Queen surged to his feet. “Don’t even try to play games with me, Rogers. Mexico is a signatory and your spaceport is in their territory.”

  “They had no idea what I intended. In any case, if you want to go after someone, shouldn’t it be them, then?

  “No, Mister Secretary, I don’t think you’ll be able to tag me with that. Especially since I asked the UN Secretary General about the legalities of that treaty. The UN, it seems, concurs with my opinion.”

  “The UN is a building full of blowhards that couldn’t tie their own shoes without taking a bribe,” Queen sneered. “Is that what you did? Bribe them?”