Post Free Clinic: Immunity Effect

Comment by Mark A. Santomieri on August 29, 2010 at 6:02pm

Immunity Effect



M.A. Santomieri






February 12, 2061. Moon Colony 1, Mare Serenitatis

President Annabelle Gets Busy

Moon Colony President, Annabelle “the conqueror” Solstein-Luden, was incensed by what she had heard from her intelligence people on board Seascape 1, deep in the Pacific ocean on Earth. And it was like that from the Landers attached to her outposts in PanAsia. It appeared that the FED was back at it again on the planet, though now deeply underground and sneaking into places where they shouldn’t be. The rotten bastards would simply not go away! It was impossible.
“Get me Tara Cargill,” she snapped at her adjutant, an AI hologram that stood patiently next to her deskport with his hands clasped behind his back. She had designed him to look like an old fashioned butler from the backwhen.
“One moment,” he said. “I’m connecting.”
After a time, Annabelle saw and heard her on her deskport.
“Yes, Madame President,” said Tara, her image now showing above Annabelle’s deskport as a hologram. She looked like she had just woken up, was rubbing her right eye with one hand and yawning. The President also noted that Tara’s mate, Sarah, had just ducked off-frame in an apparent attempt to hide her nudity.
“I need you two to come over to my office as soon as you can. We have a new set of problems on Earth that I would like very much to discuss with you.”
“’Kay,” she said, yawning again. “We’ll be over in a few flicks. Sarah and I just got out of the rack. Are you needing us flight ready?”
The President looked down at her lap and shrugged.
“I don’t know just yet. But I’m having a special rail-shot prepped with Determination. We’ll talk about it when you get here. Annabelle, away.”
She severed the connection and began to think very seriously about options. She really needed to talk to Saul, but unfortunately he was no longer among the living. Mark, his younger son, would have to do. The question there was, where was he? He had dropped off the map just last year and was nowhere to be found. Phillip, his eldest son, was also off the grid.
She was under the impression that the both of them had decided to go walk-about after “the immunity” started to spread. It was either that or they had been taken down by the FED remnants that were creeping back into the larger picture by infiltrating some of Seascape‘s Landers.
She instructed her adjutant to flag Mars then. It would take about five minutes but she needed to talk with Councilman Murray as well. Things were getting complicated with the Mars/Moon economic and political situations. With the Earth again starting to be able to provide the necessary water and proteins to the Moon colonies, the Martian government was getting edgy. Mars had, for quite some time, depended on the Moon for mineral resources and its accessibility to the asteroid belt miners, who remained stubborn and insistent about their hatred of Martians. Indeed, things were getting a little tense between the two governments. A new politic had started to evolve since the Earth had gotten back into the fray.
Annabelle simply called it the “immunity effect“.

***

Living life at about one seventh of a G, Tara was a permanently happy camper on Moon 1. Sarah, on the other hand, yearned for full G and something to swim in. In the few trips they had made back to Earth, Sarah had insisted on going for swims in the Dryden site’s indoor pool. Tara didn’t much care for the experience. She preferred to be lighter, dry and to not fight the feeling she was going to drown.
“What’s the deal, sis?” asked Sarah, coming back to their deskport, this time dressed in a loose-fitting blue jumper.
“Don’t know. But something’s got the Gov’s knickers in a twist. It’s got something to do with problems on the home world.”
“Great. More new FED jerk-offs, probably.”
“My guess,” she agreed.
She got up and bounced her way to her clothing dresser. She chose one of her old red jumpers and then made her way to the vanity. She tied her hair into a knot, put on a pair of flight boots and headed back.
“Ready?”
“Born that way.”
Together, they left their compartment and hopped their way to the travel tube that connected the habitats to the central command center. Once at the access, they ducked into a maglev traveler and were quickly shunted away.
It took about five minutes of high speed travel and then they found themselves at the entrance to the “Presidential” offices of that part of the base. Slightly more well-appointed, by Moon standards, the area had a little more headroom and windows that allowed one to view the desolate lunar landscape and most all of the structures that comprised the Moon 1 settlement. Moon 2, the actual work-center of the satellite, was a good distance away on the “dark side”. That place was a veritable hive of activity compared to where Tara and Sarah spent most of their time.
Once they got to President’s office, an AI hologram appeared. Tara called him “Jeeves”. Sarah didn’t understand the historical reference. If she had asked, Tara would have explained.
“Hey, Jeeves,” Tara said. “We’re here on request.”
The computer program seemed to think for a nano--it was actually scanning both of their retinas for identification-- then he/it responded.
“The President will see you immediately.”
For a late fifth dec fem, Annabelle was well kept. Low-grav had treated her well. She had her graying blond hair in a tight bun and her ice-blue eyes were clear and strong. Her powerful reputation preceded her but her immediate presence was a source of pure impact. Strength and determination always exuded from her. Tara knew that she was not one to muck with. Sarah knew it too. Annabelle was The Boss of The Moon, period.
She also had a very strong influence on both Earth and Mars goings on. She was, in fact, a powerful influence on a lot of things. Some had suggested that she was Saul Solstein’s daughter (which was, in fact, true). There was an obvious familial resemblance and people talked. She had tried to keep that “under her hat“, but wagging tongues were wagging tongues.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” she said curtly as Tara and Sarah came into her strangely decorated office. There were all sorts of odd bits of Earth history stowed on shelves: real books from the backwhen, strange artifacts, and bizarre knick knacks. It was very odd to Tara and Sarah.
She indicated that they should be seated. They did so.
Both of them had noticed immediately that the gravity in her office seemed to be stronger than that in the rest of the habitat.
Now that was peculiar. The “Moonies” had been known to have developed lots of unusual tech, but grav was grav, or so they both thought.
“Ladies, we have a very difficult problem developing on Earth,” she said. She made some kind of gesture with her left hand and a colorful hologram popped up from her deskport. It displayed the “big blue ball” as if seen from a platform in near orbit.
Neither Tara nor Sarah said a word. They watched and listened.
“You will notice that Seascapes One and Two,” she did something that highlighted spots in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, “in their respective oceans, have been suffering from attacks by what appear to be embedded forces unknown in their Lander networks. Perhaps they even have infiltrated such. I know for a fact, Tara, that your brother is not involved. He is just as angry as I, if not more so, by his inability to locate the source of these insurrections.”
She drew a deep breath and continued. “It is my quick assumption that these are FED remnants that are just out for revenge. But, as you both know, assumptions can kill.”
“So what do want us to do, Annabelle?” asked Tara. She had dropped the Presidential honorific. She and Annabelle were friends, had been for quite some time. She and Annabelle had a good history, which included her other brother, Jonas. She had been integral in the saving of her baby brother’s ass, some many years ago.
“To be completely honest, Tara, I want you to go back to Earth and see if you can re-gather the original team that started this whole “immunity effect“. I specifically need to find Mark Solstein and Phillip Solstein, my brothers.”
The admission that Annabelle was in fact Saul Solstein’s daughter took Sarah’s breath away. She had heard the rumors, but to hear it realtime. . .Tara had known this from the get-go, but hadn’t said anything.
“What do you want us to do specifically,” asked Sarah.
Without a blink, Annabelle said, “I want you to fly to Miracle, on Determination. There, I want you to kill Tom and take his left ear and bring it back to me.”
She smirked.
Tara got that she was joking. Sarah went white.
“Back to the point. Once you replenish Miracle, I want you to switch orbits to get to Climax and pick up a new bird. She is called Wonder, a new model AI-assisted SSTO. While you are on Climax, you will be able to do some groundside research. Talk to everyone you can think of. I would specifically start with Chrys and Chuck. And, of course, Beaver.”
Her smirk was driving Sarah mad.
Neither Sarah nor Tara understood the references, but they both logged them into their mental cubbies.
“Why us?” Tara said. “I mean, we’re pilots, for Falthwell’s sake.”
“Much more than that, girls,” she said simply. “And it’s time for your long honeymoon to be over with. It’s time to suit up again. There is doing to do.”
S***, thought Sarah. Here we go again.
Tara was thinking nothing except what the new birds would look and fly like. After all, she thought, I was born to fly these things.
“There is something to know about Determination,” said Annabelle. “She has a new and different drive. Your trip time to Miracle will be less than seven hours.”
Tara blinked. Sarah dropped jaw.
“You’re kidding, right?” said Tara.
“No, Tara. I am not kidding. You two get to be the test pilots for her.”
“Test pilots?” Sarah squeaked, again going pale.
“Well, not actually the first,” Annabelle said. Determination’s drive has been extensively and successfully tested on other smaller vessels. It is based on an extrapolation of the Rho field buffer technology. Coupled with a new cold fusion source of thrust, it moves like the proverbial ‘bat-out-of-hell‘. I’m sorry if you don’t know that old expression, but it fits.”
Tara was doing the math and the physics in her head again, as usual. “The Rho keeps us from getting pasted to the bulkhead while the drive shoots us like a whizzer ‘chette?”
“Pretty close, Tara. But the real acceleration and deceleration dynamics are controlled by the AI on board. You have to be ready, upon entering orbit, to fly it like you are used to doing with your previous SSTO‘s.”
“That’s frigging crazy s***!” Sarah said, now nearly beyond scared, edging toward angry. “I’m sorry for my language, Madame President, but how are we not going to go hyperbolic at that speed? I‘d like very much not to skip off Earth’s grav well with that kind of Delta V and end up on my way to Venus or the sun or Falthwell knows where.”
Annabelle smiled serenely. “Well, you’ll just have to ask her that, won’t you? Her name is apt. It’s Hummingbird. Get suited and go meet her. If you don’t like her, you can decline. But knowing you two, I doubt you will. I’ll have a Moon 2 transporter ready to pick you up at your hab’s aft airlock. Let‘s say, in two hours?”
Both Tara and Sarah looked at each other, shrugged, and then nodded.
“Yes ma’am,” said Tara and they both got up. Sarah was feeling a little nauseous. Tara was ecstatic.

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