Shadow of War by Timothy S. Johnston

Author:Timothy S. Johnston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside
Published: 2023-02-14T15:11:39+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Chalam’s face had paled and he stared at me. “So a . . . neutral beam vaporized the water and dissolved our hull? And melted my brother’s hand?”

“The laser vaporized the water. The beam just passed through the void, straight to your seacar. And it didn’t melt the hull, or your brother’s hand.”

Max said, “Neutrons would have knocked the protons out of atoms. Pushed molecules apart. Shoved electrons aside. Technically not melting from heat. Just . . . disassociating atoms. Dissolving them.” He frowned and looked away. “Someone invented this weapon?”

“She’s here, with us now,” Johnny said. “She’s coming with us to steal it back.”

“And what happens then?”

“She’s going to stay here and work with us.”

“She’s been here for weeks already,” Johnny added. “Working with us.”

“Incredible,” Max breathed. Then he straightened and faced us. “Count me in. I want to be a part of this. I need to learn more. And if this weapon will help us protect Trieste, then absolutely I want to participate.”

Chalam was watching the exchange. “I don’t understand why we need to know about the Trench though, Mac. I’ve been teaching Max about it. Neither the base nor Diego Garcia are in it. They’re farther to the west.”

“You two are part of the plan to get the Third and Fourth Components from The Vault. We definitely need to know the geology of the area in order to steal them. But the Second Component is next, and it’s on board the Aurora Rex.”

“What are the components?” Max asked.

I thought back to Alyssna’s lesson. “The Second one is the Staging System, to feed power to each part of the weapon. The Third is the Aiming Module, and the Fourth is The Accelerator.”

“And these three with the ten lasers is the . . . The Water Pick?”

“Exactly.”

Chalam said, “You don’t have to ask me again.” He glanced at Max. “We’re both in.”

—••—

Johnny and I left Chalam in the lab to continue planning with Max, who guaranteed that he’d have more Isomer Bombs ready for us. He’d have them loaded in SC-1 and ready to go in two days. Meanwhile he was also going to keep working with Chalam on the geology of the region.

Johnny said, “The big issue at the moment is Aurora Rex,” he said. “How are we going to locate her?”

“That’s the Commodore,” I replied. “He should be able to tell us where she is. We’re going to go to Blue Downs in two days and launch the next operation from there.”

I had planned to go meet Alyssna in her lab, just a few decks away from Hyland’s. Johnny went on to his office to deal with city business, and he was also going to make sure SC-1 was ready for the upcoming voyage.

Alyssna had already arranged for the Laser Module’s transport, and sure enough, inside, I found her fawning over the weapon. She was connecting cables to sensors and computers and was running a variety of diagnostics.

“I can’t believe what those morons have done here,” she snapped, barely looking up at me.

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