“I can do that, but it wouldn’t be nearly as complete or effective as a full upgrade capability. I would insist on each person being made fully aware that I would be making additions to their brains, although in a good way. And I could have a fabricator make a low ability med unit that would get the job done, while repairing any medical conditions. It would not have the ability to replaced limbs, or cure some of the more complicated diseases. However, it could do an analysis of each person and if we found some nasty disease, we could transfer them to a bigger med unit for repair.”

  Mike thought about it and told them, “Let’s not even mention that for now. We have a lot riding on this first step back onto the planet. Once they see how well this could work, we can bring it up.”

  Boss, we need to talk about Nellis. Mr. Hardesty intends to ring the entire Basin with new, fortified outposts and they are all facing in, not out. They are moving in a battalion of airborne rangers and two companies from Delta force. They mean business, Mike. Also, there’s two odd looking units being set up, one to the north and one to the west.

  Bambi, do you have any idea what they are?

  I can’t be sure just yet; but they might be a crude sort of field laser. The guns, the motors, the rockets and the artillery shells don’t concern me. None of those things can harm a shuttle. Those things have shields that fend off small meteors and space trash, when we’re traveling over a million miles an hour. So the ordinance is harmless.

  Lasers? That’s different. If they can produce enough energy, they can burn holes in the shuttles and needless to say, people and equipment.

  He responded, Shit. Well I’ve outdone myself this time.

  I can take them out, sir.

  I know, Bambi. Let me talk with Max and get his insight on this. If we have to do it, I want as little collateral damage as possible.

  Yes sir.

  Bet’s cries pulled his attention away and he returned to her, as she struggled against the restraints pleading for mercy.

  Mary looked in on them and told him, “Talk to her, Mike. Say anything. She just needs to know that someone is here and that they care.”

  He did. Mike told Bet about his life with Sherry and Wayne. How he felt so guilty, because he had lost so many years with them, because he was on deployment somewhere. He talked about going back to school, after he retired and how difficult it had been, at first. Mike explained about his experience in the corporate world and how different it was from military life. But, he never once mentioned losing his legs and eye. He just didn’t think she needed to hear about someone else’s suffering, when she was in such terrible pain.

  It went on for hours, as the TSN Independence made it’s way to the chosen location for their new home. Bambi kept him up to date on their progress, including a notice from Todd Pierpoint, telling him that the President was pleased that he was on the way. He assured Mike that General Boltz would be cooperative and pointed out that the man had no light touch to anything he did. So, don’t expect to be welcomed with open arms.

  Knowing what Mike Hardesty had in mind for him, Mike felt General Boltz was a breath of fresh air in comparison.

  Bambi, do any of the other members of the Presidents staff know of Hardesty’s plans for me?

  No sir. But apparently a few civilians do. He made a few calls from a hotel bar, near the Pentagon. They were to a friend of his, Harvey Grissom, who just happens to be the CEO of a large defense company. He promised the guy that he could assure his company a substantial piece of the action, with respect to the alien technology.

  Then he called his broker and told him to buy two million shares in the man’s corporation. If that company takes over the development of our technology, Mike Hardesty is going to make billions.

  Mike shook his head in disgust. Bambi, this is just the sort of shit I was afraid of and the main reason I didn’t want to deal with the Washington crowd. Are you sure the President doesn’t know? Is there any activity by the other players here?

  Well, I feel pretty certain that the President is on the up and up. However, in Australia, there has been a jump in a few stocks of companies that would benefit from our tech and those companies have close ties to the Prime Minister. The other nations seem to be keeping a lid on it, for now.

  Mike said, “The Australian situation might just be simply a matter of the Prime Minister returning a favor, by giving a friend a heads up. Is there any evidence that he has made an effort to profit from this personally?”

  “No sir. Other than being a bit of an ass, he seems to be a straight shooter.”

  For the next few days, as the recruits went through the worst of their upgrade, TSN Independence moved closer to the new location. When it was nearly there, most of the newbies were on the down side of their horrible improvement.

  Mike sat by Bet’s med unit, holding her hand, as she began the slow recovery from her agonizing journey. He gave some thought to the maneuvering of Mike Hardesty, and then made a harsh decision.

  Bambi, I have an idea, but it is illegal. Let me explain, before you say no.

  Before he could say what he had in mind, she interrupted. OK, but I can tell you, I like it already.

  He huffed and told her, Financially Hardesty might have had a good idea. I want to do what he was about to do. We can discreetly direct the business of managing our tech on Earth, through a series of different companies. We’ll use gold and platinum to bolster the accounts we had set up with my retirement money and invest it all over the world. We can predict what businesses are going to prosper, once this gets out. So why shouldn’t we use that advantage to help people and to protect our own interests down there?

  We’ll buy companies in each of the English speaking nations we have invited to join us. That would give us a physical presence there, without them knowing it. I just think we’re going to need people on the ground to help provide us with intelligence. But first, I want to build up our accounts on Earth, so we can provide the financial means for dealing with those people who decide not to join us and to give us the ability to throw some money around, behind the scenes.

  He stopped talking and there was silence. He expected Bambi to say something, but she remained quiet.

  Bambi, what do you think about this?

  Well, are you asking me to set this all up, or are you ordering me to do it.

  I’m asking, Bambi. I don’t want to do anything that offends your sense of integrity.

  I’ll do it, sir. But, we’re going to need someone we can trust to be on the ground running things for us. I think I know just the man for the job.

  Mike was not surprised that she accepted the assignment; but he was amazed that she knew of someone.

  Who, Bambi?

  Jim Atteberry. I was in his mind, Mike. I saw some of the things he accomplished. When he didn’t want to be noticed, he could be very discrete. He can play dumb, ignorant, sophisticated and a bunch of other characters. The man is a chameleon. I think that’s the Earth animal I want to reference.

  Yes, Bambi, that’s the one. OK. When he finishes being upgraded, let’s offer him the job.

  Should we tell Max about this?

  Yes, definitely, and I want Wayne to know of it, too. I’ll have a private meeting with them; that’s enough people who will know about this for now. If it gets out, the President and the other heads of state will think we’re planning some sort of coup. So keep it between the four of us, five if Jim takes the job.

  Hours later, the Independence arrived on station, behind the large asteroid. Bambi released the huge robots to begin the task of preparing the big rock. Then she moved the shuttles to the edge of the hanger portal, in anticipation of launching for Earth.

  Max walked into the med unit area, on the big shuttle and asked, “What’s the hold up. Why aren’t we pulling out for Earth?”

  “Max, there’s some serious shit going on down there and I want our troops to be ready for action, when we arrive. They’re going to need a few more days to get acclimated to their capabilities and to familiarize themselves with their weapons. Then, we’ll bring them up to date on the intel we have and see if anyone balks at the assignment. Those that don’t want to go can stay on board and we’ll make do with the remainder.”

  Max looked angry, as he pressed Mike, “Well, damn it, I can tell that something’s wrong. How about bringing me up to date.”

  “Yeah, I’m sorry about that, but I just found about this a little while ago myself. Let’s get Wayne and some coffee and I’ll have Bambi explain it to you guys. Then we’re going to discuss how to handle it.”

  Chapter 12

  After Bambi explained what Mike Hardesty had done and what he was planning, Wayne was all for assassinating the man. Max took a cleaner, longer view of the situation.

  He said, “Assassination is out of the question. It’s going to be very awkward, but we have to give him all the rope he needs to hang himself.”

  He presented his solution and Wayne was opposed to it, at first. “Max, you’re asking my dad to put himself and a few others in jeopardy, which could lead to Hardesty having the victory he wants.”

  They continued to look at other means to avoid such a calamitous outcome. Exposing Hardesty as a money grubbing scumbag was at the core of any plan they considered. Finally, with Bambi’s input, they settled on a plan that didn’t risk too much, for a great reward, which would be the riddance of one Secretary of Defense, Mike Hardesty.

  It would involve having Mike’s new warriors back his play and Bambi would need to deal with the potential lasers, which really bothered Mike.

  She explained, “General, I’ve told you before, those weapons would be fairly ineffective against the Saurans, unless they had some serious improvement, which I can offer to provide. If I destroy them, they will only have lost a few experimental variants of a rudimentary high energy laser. When their physicists see how I can improve the design and at such a small cost of development to them, they’ll be doing back flips and forgetting all about the ones they lost.”

  “Yes Bambi, that’s probably true. But, what about the men who are killed, when you take out the damn things?”

  Max showed his ruthless side. “Mike, we know there are going to be losses in this war, as there have been for ten thousand years on this planet. Many of those losses were incurred, as men trained for the battle. That is the case here. Those men will have died for the cause of defending the human race. That they will die because of an arrogant bastard’s profit motive won’t make them any less heroes than the men who will die in battle.”

  Mike looked at Max, with a furrowed brow and said, “Yeah, I know, Max. It’s just that I spent my entire military career, trying to save my men through endless training. I know those laser guys will have trained hard to do their job and they’re going to be wiped out, without knowing they never had a chance.”

  “Sir.”

  “What is it, Bambi?”

  “I might be able to direct a tight, low power plasma shot at the power source. They’re using a common type of field generator to load the pulse power capacitors for a shot. If I take that out, before they charge the capacitor, the damn things won’t work.”

  Mike pursed his lips and pointed out, “But, didn’t you say there are two of them?”

  “Yes sir. I can hit each of them simultaneously, using drones, with mounted hand plasma guns. They won’t be stealthy, but they’ll get the job done. My concern here is that if I miscalculate the best place to hit the generator, they may get off a shot and that could really sting us.”

  Wayne angrily told her, “You mean dad could get his damn fool head blown off.”

  “Yes Colonel, that’s exactly what I mean.”

  Mike stood up and announced, “Then that’s what we’ll do. That I took such a risk will impress the President and perhaps help to gain his trust.”

  Max said, “Mike, I love you, but you’re a damn fool sometimes.”

  “Yes, I know. I thought you had already learned that in Iraq. Now, if you’ll forgive me, I have to check on our future warriors.”

  After he left the room, Wayne said, “Who does he think he’s kidding? He’s going to check on our newest staff member.”

  Then Max, Wayne and Bambi, continued to work out the details of the plan. They wanted to cover a wide variety of contingencies that could pop up. Max demonstrated his remarkable depth of thought on polishing off the details of an operation. He constantly bombarded Wayne and Bambi with ugly scenarios, some of which were just plain ridiculous.

  He told them at the end of their session, “When I bring up seemingly stupid possibilities, it is to remind you that the enemy might not see it as stupid. It’s better to be prepared than it is to be surprised.”

  Wayne, remembering his brief encounter with a guided missile, mumbled, “Amen, brother.”

  Most of the people going through the upgrade were nude. None if them would have noticed if the female scientist suffering the same process was naked, because everyone was afflicted with the same agony. As a courtesy to her gender, Bambi had provided the few women with a loose fitting gown that allowed them some dignity. So when Mike looked in on her, all he saw was her lovely young face. He thought it was perfect.

  He commed, Thanks, Bambi. You did a great job and I’m sure Bet will be pleased. I know I am.

  With a soft melodic lilt to her voice, she replied, Welcome.

  When Bet finally began to come out of the upgrade process, she was still woozy, as she asked Mike, “Please promise me that if I ever have to go through that again, you’ll just shoot me.”

  He smiled and agreed. “I know how you feel, Bet. I felt the same way. The good news is that you’ll never have to suffer like that again and thanks to the nanites you’ll find that you rarely feel pain. If you stub your toe, you’ll feel it for a half second, and then the little buggers go to work and squelch it for you immediately. You’ll be able to have them do a complete diagnostic on any part of your body. Just go to the appropriate file and tell them to do it.”

  Bet was feeling tired, but it was her nature to ignore it and get on with her work. She tried to get up out of the med unit bed and nearly collapsed. Mike caught her and guided her back to a sitting position, as he warned, “Don’t push too hard at first. You’ll get there, but you have to allow your body to finish the process of making various connections and adjustments for you.”

  “Thanks, Mike. Mary told me it would be awkward. She also told me I needed to find a way to see, in my mind, this Mental Control Panel…the MCP. She said you gave it that name.”

  “That’s right. Bambi helped me find it by highlighting a memory that was dear to me. I don’t know of any memories of yours, except the one between us. Would you consider me rude, if I asked Bambi to go into your mind and retrieve that beautiful hour we spent together?”

  She actually blushed and quietly told him, “Mike, is that really the only memory you have of me. I know we’ve only known each other briefly, but I’d like to think that we had more of a connection than just that.”

  “We did, Bet, I can assure you. Wait a second.”

  Bambi, see if you can show her the first time we met, when she took me to task for kidnapping her.

  I’ll need her permission.

  So, ask her. But do it through the comm.

  Bet’s expression changed to one of wonder, as Bambi commed her new biologic module. Bet, may I have your permission to enter your memories and highlight one for you? It will help you to discover the MCP.

  “Yes, Bambi, by all means, please do.”

  Bet’s face lit up with joy, as she felt and internally saw the look on Mike’s face, as she scolded him that first time.

  Bambi commed her. Now think about looking down and you will notice the equivalent of a blinking light. That’s the file I created for this memory. Press on it with your mind.

  Bet understood immediately and mentally leaned against the file button, opening an enormous flood of memories.

  “Oh my God. The memories are so clear, although some are fuzzy. I’m not really seeing them, yet it’s as though I was.”

  Mike commed, Kind of cool, isn’t it?

  “Yes it is,” she replied, without realizing she had heard Mike’s communication through the comm net and not out loud.

  Bet, try talking to me by thinking it, instead of saying it. Just following my transmission back to the source and reply the same way.

  There was a long pause, and then she commed, Is this right? Am I doing it? Oh, you don’t have to answer me, because I know I’ve got it now. Oh this is wonderful, Mike.

  They commed back and forth for half an hour, and then Mike had a robot chair roll over to her, saying, This little character will take you to your stateroom. I want you to relax, eat a ton of food and drink a lot of water. What ever you want, just comm Bambi and she’ll see to your needs.

  He watched her leave the shuttle, and then he went to visit with Commander Vollmar. Mike wasn’t as endearing to him, although he was sympathetic to the wretched experience that had finally been put behind him. He helped Vollmar find his MCP, and then moved on to some of the old vets who were coming around. That’s when he realized that most of them were having trouble finding their MCPs. He had Bambi jump in and give them a hand.

  When he stopped to chat with Jim Atteberry, he found the man smiling.

  Mike asked, “Are you all right?”

  Jim grinned at him and responded gleefully, “Wow, this stuff is really great. I can look into all sorts of files and it’s all so fast. I love it.”

  Mike was a little puzzled. “Who helped you figure out how to use it?”

  “Was I supposed to have help? I guess I didn’t need it, because I seem to have a good understanding of what’s what. I’ve always been a quick learner.”

  Mike was impressed by the man’s ability to understand and use the MCP, without guidance. He decided to test Jim’s newly installed talents.

  Jim, I have a need for your input, regarding a situation we’re going to face, as we touch down on Earth. There is going to be an attempt to assassinate me.