Let Us Tell You Again (April Series Book 13) Read online

  Let Us Tell You Again

  Book 13 of the April series

  Mackey Chandler

  Cover by Sara Hoyt

  Previously:

  “Go ahead and take the lead question,” Jeff said.

  “Have you looked at the North American news this morning?” Leo asked.

  “No, I was in entirely too good of a mood having wrapped up this agreement. Are you about to spoil that?” Jeff asked.

  “That is of course yours to determine. The USNA Space Force absolutely denies the weapons on the Constitution were of the nature you described. Since this is the start point for this entire conflict and disagreement, I thought you’d want to address it.”

  “Otis, have the Hawaiian gentleman who brought all of you over in the truck go back to Dionysus’ Chariot and bring us the proof package back.”

  “Ah, you anticipated this issue might come up,” Leo said.

  “Indeed, we did. I might take a few questions from the others while we are waiting.”

  The questions were lowball and cautious, even though they all had copies of the agreement and could have asked about details of it. They were waiting to see how he answered Champion.

  When the truck returned Otis retrieved a white cylinder from the bed. It was flat on one end and hemispherical on the other. Even though he had enhanced strength and wore powered armor, he fairly staggered under the heavy load. That was obvious from how far he had to lean back cradling it in his arms to get under the balance point.

  Mackay rushed forward to help him ease it to the hangar floor, and about half the press corps and Tanaka’s delegation stepped back when they realized what it was. That was silly. They’d have needed to retreat to the other side of the island to be safe if the weapon presented any danger.

  “This is my proof,” Jeff said in a soft voice. “We’re disassembling one right now on the Moon. This is my gift to Hawaii. I suggest you enlist someone with experience in nuclear weaponry to help you dismantle it safely. The French come to mind as a good possibility. We realized these would have a destruct mechanism in case you fire it off and change your mind. It also will auto-engage after a time if the target is not intercepted. That doesn’t detonate it. It just engages the chemical charges out of sequence to blow it to pieces well past reverse engineering.

  “We removed the receivers for that function some distance away. The North Americans have been transmitting the destruct code in the K band from orbit the last couple of days to no effect. Of course, without the nuclear portion going off, it would be hard to tell if any of them received the signal and self-destructed.

  “The disassembly we are doing is far enough along that I can tell you with certainty you will find plenty of contractor logos and agency names written on components to know this is a North American device.

  “I find I don’t want to take any more questions. Let’s get to the signing so we can all go home,” Jeff requested.

  Three copies of the agreement were laid out on a low table with a fresh pen for each. There was a seat to allow signing without leaning over awkwardly. As they’d agreed privately, Quincy Love stepped forward and signed each in turn. Jeffrey Singh then signed them and applied his hanko. Prime Minister Tanaka was the only witness signing and surprised them by having a hanko too. Jeff didn’t want a dozen signatories and didn’t see the point of them with modern media and recording. It wasn’t like witnesses would be asked later to verify their marks. Several photographers recorded the event and it was streamed out live.

  When they were done a Hawaiian officer enclosed each copy in a leather-covered hard folder and presented them to the signatories. Tanaka and Love shook hands with him and Jeff went straight to his ship.

  Chapter 1

  As soon as Jeff Singh left the treaty signing to return to his ship the North American negotiator, Quincy Love, turned to his Hawaiian-supplied security and asked to be returned to his hotel rooms. The press, seeing the principal parties departing, immediately started signing off and packing up their equipment. Other minor officials and witnesses, seeing the party was over headed for the exits too.

  Prime Minister Tanaka was temporarily besieged by his own military and law enforcement, demanding what they should do with the nuclear weapon at their feet with which Jeff had gifted them. By the time he made clear to them that he wanted it as far from Honolulu as possible and secured in a remote location, the hangar was almost cleared. It was far too late to stop the crowd at the exits or recall them. His security people were still standing at their posts around the perimeter but the janitors were there too, looking eager to clean up and close the hangar.

  Tanaka looked around dismayed. The hangar floor was cleared and the remnants of the crowd at the exits all had their backs to him. His Business Minister, Naito, was still standing fast by him but even the mayor of Honolulu and his aide were in retreat for the exit.

  “I had no idea the signatories would just abruptly march off without taking time to issue closing statements to the press. I was going to propose an official luau tomorrow as a grand celebration. That isn’t going to work with the guests of honor gone.”

  “That’s pretty hard to top as a closing statement,” Naito said, gesturing at the white cylinder of the nuclear weapon resting on the hangar floor. “I suspect the North Americans never thought he’d offer hard evidence of what sort of weapons their ship carried. If they had, they never would have issued a flat denial. Other governments would at most offer up some photos or video as evidence. A sample of their enemy's most advanced weapon is an intelligence bonanza few would share.”

  Tanaka looked deeply thoughtful. An expression Naito wasn’t used to seeing on his face. “That tells me they see little value in the tech. They must have as good or better and it was worth more to publicly call their hand. I think you got the key point there when you said other governments . Singh and his ladies are not a traditional government. I don’t get the impression it was ever something to which they aspired. They are just some very strange people who fell into significant powers and perforce they had to ride the tiger. There’s no predicting what they may do because they are amateurs .”

  Naito had to stifle a smile at the strong disapproval Tanaka put on that word.

  The roar of the drive from Dionysus’ Chariot made them turn their heads and look out the open hangar doors. The dark wedge of the ship was already well off the ground rising on a pencil line of purple flame when it simply winked out of existence. The roar cut off abruptly a couple of seconds later.

  “North America should be more cautious and treat these odd amateurs with all due respect until they can do that ,” Naito concluded.

  “That’s some seriously spooky stuff,” Tanaka agreed.

  “Thank you for your support,” Naito said, taking advantage of the break in the conversation to take his leave like everybody else, but trying to be gracious with his Prime Minister. “I think this entire affair left us looking very good, and the fact North America didn’t contest having the talks here would make arguing against the reality of our independence in the future rather difficult.” That nicely said, he was done here having reinforced Tanaka’s acceptance of the conference like a good salesman reinforces the customer’s decision against remorse.

  “As if you left me any way to beg off. You got away with it this time,” Tanaka said, wagging a warning finger at him, “but if you keep pulling this sort of stunt it will eventually blow up in your face. Don’t think for a moment I wouldn’t have put the whole thing on your head if it had turned into a fiasco. You are almost as dangerous and unpredictable as these Spacers.”

  “I’ll only take such risks if the
potential benefits are worth it,” Naito promised. “I’m pretty sure Singh is going to reward us with regular shuttle service. That puts us on a par with Australia, Tonga, and Japan. That’s an exclusive club to join with economic benefits.”

  “Good, because I don’t think the North Americans are going to reward us at all for facilitating this. I’ll be happy if they don’t try to recover their weapon by military action and then try to pretend that we never had possession of it.”

  “Where are you taking it?” Naito wondered. “Are you going to call in the French as Singh suggested? You had your heads so close together with the brass I couldn’t hear.”

  “We’re going to make a great show of loading it up on an aircraft and taking it to the French Frigate Shoals,” Tanaka said. “Where it is really going, you have no need to know. The suggestion we share the device with the French is an excellent suggestion, but I have no idea if he cleared it with them first. It’s just the sort of thing this amateur might blurt out as an ad hoc thing without worrying about it failing if he didn’t arrange it behind the scenes. In any case, the French can damn well open an embassy or a consulate here if they expect us to share such advanced technology with them. Hawaii has no use for such space weapons and no ships to carry them. I’m perfectly willing to let it sit unopened until it’s obsolete if they aren’t willing to acknowledge our legitimacy that much.”

  “That seems a small price,” Naito agreed. “I think they will readily agree.”

  Tanaka gave him a sharp look. “Don’t try to help me on the sly. I’ll handle the French.”

  “I wouldn’t think of it,” Naito said, showing his palms in surrender. He was already thinking about who might be a conduit to the French but dropped that thought reluctantly. Tanaka could probably arrange it without him. If not, then none of the stink would attach to him. “I’m going home with my neighbor to celebrate privately and leave it all to you now.”

  Tanaka nodded a goodbye without scolding him any further. Naito took his leave before he issued any more restrictive orders. Diana was visible waiting for him by the exit, one of only a handful of people who hadn’t vacated the hangar. There were armed soldiers around the weapon already. Naito figured they would bring in some sort of a lift as soon as the place was empty and they had some privacy. He didn’t think it was a rational fear, but he’d just as soon be several kilometers away when they started handling it.

  * * *

  “It bears repeating, I do like the new car you picked,” Diana said from the depths of her soft comfortable seat. The rich odor of leather upholstery predominated in the new car smell. “I’m not interested in displaying status and I’m certainly not a motorhead. Ralph was economical and didn’t draw unwanted attention. Nobody ever bothered to break into him when we were in the city overnight. One look at him and most thieves would conclude anybody who couldn’t afford better probably wasn’t hauling anything worth stealing. But I was getting tired of getting jolted by every pothole and bump. By the time we got home, I felt like somebody had beaten my backside with a broom handle. This is pure luxury.”

  “Unfortunately, the pothole situation isn’t going to get better any time soon,” Nick Naito said. “The cost of importing paving materials is outrageous and the government has other things to spend money on than asphalt. I can’t see it getting better soon and have no solution to the problem. Even grading dirt roads is expensive because the machinery to do that burns a lot of expensive imported fuel.”

  “Then I’d say it’s time to rethink how you make the roads,” Diana told him.

  “Concrete takes a lot of energy to make too,” Nick objected.

  “I’m saying think way outside the box. I’m no civil engineer but I know people have made roads out of rocks and bricks. They’ve made plank roads where the wood was dirt cheap. You might even ask our Spacer friends how they make roads on the Moon. I don’t know what they do but I’m sure it isn’t anything like asphalt.”

  “I’ll talk to some friends,” Nick promised. “It would make me a bit of a hero to come up with a workable solution. It’s always near the top of the list for things making the public unhappy. I don’t miss being pounded to death riding home either.”

  “I’m surprised you don’t have a government car by now,” Diana said. “That’s not a veiled hint I don’t want you borrowing the car anymore. You hardly ever use it. But once the revolution is over, officials usually want some perks as the spoils of winning.”

  “There was a very strong egalitarian element in the revolution. Some of them confused egalitarian with socialist sufficiently to worry me who would prevail,” Nick admitted. “It’s strong enough that I’d be loudly condemned if I expected a car to be provided. It would even be used against me if I spent my own money to have a nice car. Even with no import tariffs, there haven’t been many cars imported since we won. Certainly, less than have been taken off the road for being unrepairable or wrecked. I understand some of the vehicles in scrapping yards were reevaluated and repaired instead of being recycled because of the scarcity.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Diana said. “You’re welcome to borrow Fancy Dan any time.”

  “You’ve named it already?”

  “Just now. He isn’t plain and utilitarian like Floyd. He’s very much like my first husband Danny. I married him for all the wrong superficial reasons but it was fun while it lasted.”

  “What happened with him?” Nick asked.

  “Dan was a trouble magnet from the start. Women would just throw themselves at him at parties. Indeed, he was a one-man party. It was inevitable somebody would manage to steal him. When we stay in the city overnight, we’re going to have to secure Dan much better than Floyd or the same thing will happen,” Diana warned.

  “Seduced by some homewrecker with a jimmy tool and a cracker pad?” Nick quipped.

  “Yes, and if this Fancy Dan is stolen away, it will be with no prospects of any alimony,” Diana told him.

  * * *

  “You survived the Slum Ball again,” April said.

  “I’ve had warmer greetings,” Jeff said. “I missed you too. I thought you supported negotiating with them?”

  “I had to. Heather started issuing commands and cut off any discussion. Then there was the fact I didn’t have any other action to offer except utterly destroying North America. Since Heather assigned planning that to me as an alternative, I can’t complain.”

  Jeff reviewed his memory of events and could see that take on it. He couldn’t remember them seriously arguing with Heather after she went into sovereign mode. As April said, it wasn’t like either of them had any brilliant alternatives.

  “We’ll see if they try to repudiate it,” Jeff said. “You may still have to do that. Neither of us saw that as a better outcome.” It was just a statement of fact.

  “Gunny asked me a question you never really addressed,” April asked. “Why did you put a shortie version of Heather’s cannon in the Chariot instead of using a gravity lance? You aren’t going to leave it in there are you? It takes up most of the room in the hold and a great deal of the lift capacity too.”

  “It was a bit of an experiment,” Jeff said. “A temporary installation of a gravity lance would have been just as difficult as the cannon. I’m very concerned we aren’t getting the needed material from my mother as fast as I’d like. We’re going to have to choose between conflicting uses. I’d rather not put a lance in any sort of lander since they are at greater risk of capture. If we have three quantum fluid devices in a ship instead of one or two that increases the risk that a self-destruct won’t work, and the lance is easier to replace with a known mature system than the others. “I also expected to release video of disabling the Constitution and would rather not show the Earthies any detail of using a lance to do so.

  “I do regret doing it on the cheap. I just copied Heather’s Bofors. I’ve researched and found a much lighter more versatile 30mm auto-cannon called a RARDEN gun that will serve better. It has less recoi
l, easier ejection to manage, and can be pintle mounted on other sorts of vehicles. We could use it on a ground car or air car exploring other planets.

  “Looking even further ahead, we don’t have a deep theoretical understanding of how the lance works . We may find others among the stars who have a better understanding of that.”

  “So? Why would that matter if they do?” April asked.

  “What if they understand it well enough to counter or block it?” Jeff asked. “An old reliable system like an autocannon can be a good backup.”

  April looked surprised. “You think further ahead than me,” she admitted.

  “Thank you. That’s sweet of you to say. Let’s say we think from different perspectives.”

  * * *

  “They just fired Quincy Love and arrested him,” Dakota read off the news screen.

  “Of course they did. Did you really expect anything else?” Heather asked. “He was guilty of doing exactly what they asked him to do. It was a clear case of malicious compliance.” She didn’t even bother to look up from her work or ask to have Dakota forward the news article.

  “I think they’re really serious,” Dakota said. “They fired his supervisor too and charged him under some law I don’t understand about dealing with a foreign power.”

  Heather finally deigned to look up. “What they do with Mr. Love or his boss is their internal affair. I had no expectation they would treat him well. What matters is - did they explicitly reject the treaty ?”

  “Not yet. That’s the direction things seem to be headed,” Dakota predicted. “What else can they do but repudiate it?”

  Heather was back looking at her screen. “I don’t know, but I’m sure we’ll find out.”

  * * *

  “These terms are unacceptable,” the Secretary of Defense declared. “State here agrees with me too. If we tried to negotiate better terms by implication that validates the treaty as it stands. These aren’t reasonable people. We have no expectation we’d get significant concessions and then we’ve painted ourselves in a corner by dignifying this travesty.”