“Congratulations now get out of here and go to work. We have to be prepared and let’s hope we have ninety days to get ready.”
“Sir, may I request that Captain Kelly be promoted to Commodore as my second in command and also promote Captain Smith to commodore over the Empires and Ultras”
“Is that the same Smith that was my helmsman on the first Moscow?”
“Yes sir.”
Kosiev shook his head and said, “Are they good, Admiral?”
“They learned from the best, sir.”
Kosiev looked at Dorg and said, “Do you have anyone you want to use in these positions?”
“Unfortunately, no one is as qualified as the ones recommended here; after all, you won the war against us. One thing is certain, these sailors have not lost. Let’s hope they continue their success.”
“Permission granted, Mikado. Call them in and we’ll issue the promotions. Now get to work.”
Dorg looked at Kosiev after Mikado left the room and said, “He makes a good point about the asteroids screens. Will it handle thousands of anti-matter hits?”
“Probably not over an extended period; we need to double up on the number and go to 16 instead of eight. I’ll get a rush order in and see if we can get them here quickly. We’ll also use the 70 foot power cells on them. They will have a much broader field of fire and perhaps most of the missiles will be detonated before they reach the planet.”
“Have you thought about arming those forts with Pulse Penetrators and needles?”
" That is an excellent idea. I’ll get Tag to send the engineers to convert the existing forts to that technology and we’ll build it into the new ones.”
“Those asteroids are huge. How many penetrators can they handle and what is the range of the Penetrators?”
Kosiev munched his popcorn and then said, “I don’t know. The penetrators were primarily developed as a fleet weapon but I think we can increase the range if we add energy. These forts have that in abundance. Perhaps the plants will have great difficulty getting close enough to launch their missiles. I’ll get the engineers on it now.”
Chapter 7
Danielle was sitting in her office answering questions on a form about what her needs would be in her new home on Ross. Rose at nine months was standing and holding on to the wall of her play pen watching her mother with obvious curiosity. Danielle pushed her com and said, “Leila, I’m expecting an engineer from Ross to arrive shortly to pick up this form I’m working on; please show him in when he arrives.”
Leila replied, “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Danielle gave a heavy sign and left her com on so Leila could hear it. She wondered if she would ever get used to the honorifics that came with her office. She looked at Rose who immediately smiled and started bouncing up and down at her mother’s attention. Danielle smiled at her blond hair, green eyed child and put the form down. She walked over and picked Rose up and sat down with her in her lap and began singing. Rose gave a shreek and started laughing out loud. Danielle caught the mood and began laughing herself. How many mothers can make their child laugh so hard just by singing?
Her com buzzed and Leila said, “Mr. Ereckson from Ross is here to pick up the form.”
“Send him in, Leila.”
A distinguished looking man dressed professionally entered and came forward and bowed. Rose looked at him with wide eyes. “Please rise and say hello to my daughter, Mr. Ereckson,” Danielle said,
“Good morning your majesty and hello Rose,” he said and offered his hand to the little girl. Rose reached out and grabbed his index finger and smiled. He smiled and shook her little hand.
“Mr. Ereckson, I’ve put as much information as I can think of on this questionnaire but I really trust the building team to just use their own judgment,” Danielle said. “I do appreciate all the effort that is going into building our home on Ross.
“We are excited more than you could ever know to have your family coming to live on our planet. I am actually one of the scientists from the academy that we’re building there. Our engineers are so determined to complete the building on time that they requested me to come see you about your wishes.”
Danielle stood up with Rose and said, “Come with me Mr. Ereckson, I need to put Rose down for a nap.” They walked out of the office into an adjoining room where Rose’s crib was located and Danielle laid Rose down. “I really have very simple needs, Mr. Ereckson. Just tell the engineers to use their own judgment and whatever they do will be perfectly fine.”
Mr. Ereckson nodded and said, “They just want to make sure you’re happy with your new home.” Then he looked at Rose’s crib and said, “Isn’t that a mobile of Ross’s solar system hanging above her crib?”
Danielle smiled and said, “Yes it is. The academy sent it to us saying that they wanted Rose to get to know her new home. I’m told that it is an accurate recreation of all the planets and moons and Rose just loves staring at it watching it move.”
Mr. Ereckson looked at the mobile and his expression changed markedly. “What’s wrong?” Danielle asked.
He looked at Danielle, “This mobile is free moving; it does not move on its own. I remember when we sent it to you.”
They both stood there and looked at the mobile and they could see the planets moving around the sun ever so slightly and the moons revolving around the planets. “I also know that the tenth planet has all of its eight moons positioned exactly as they are now in the system. I was looking at a message that I received that showed the planet just before I arrived here.”
Danielle looked down at Rose lying in her crib smiling up at them. She said, “Mr. Ereckson, can you get a picture of where all the planets are in your system right now.”
Ereckson turned on his com and started speaking into it. Danielle heard, “I don’t care, just do it and do it now.” They continued to watch the mobile move for five minutes and then Ereckson’s com buzzed. “I have it now, Your Majesty. Is there a screen I can send it?”
Danielle pointed to the one beside Rose’s bed and said, “Use that one.”
Ereckson pushed a button and a picture of Ross’s solar system appeared on the wall. They both stared at it and compared it to Rose’s mobile. The two were identical. Danielle looked at Ereckson and said, “Do you know how this could be happening?”
Ereckson said, “No but let’s try something.” He reached up and moved all the planets to different places around the sun. Rose looked up at him with a serious expression and then looked at the mobile and the planets all moved back to their previous locations.
“Let’s try it again but let me take her out of the room,” Danielle said. Ereckson nodded and Danielle picked up Rose and took her into the other room and put her in her play pen. She went back in and watched Ereckson give the mobile a spin. The planets whorled around the sun and then settled back into the positions they were in originally. Danielle and Ereckson mixed them up repeatedly but they always returned back to the current positions the planets and moons were located in the real solar system. Danielle and Mr. Ereckson looked at each other then went back in the office and found Rose asleep in her play pen. They went back and spun the mobile again and watched as it spun for a full minute and settled back into the current orbits of the Ross system. Danielle went back and looked at Rose sleeping peacefully in her play pen and wondered how she could have possibly known the current orbits of the Ross solar system. She looked at Ereckson and said, “How could she have made this happen?
He looked at her and moved one planet in the mobile to the opposite side of the sun and let it go. It slowly revolved around the sun until it returned to its proper place. “The only way she could have done this is to actually see the entire solar system as it is right now in real time. The light from our system won’t get here for thirteen years.” He then looked at Danielle and said, “I have absolutely no way of explaining how she did this.”