Stargrazer while Danny took a few minutes rest.
“Hhmm? How’d I know what?”
“That Red was alive. You weren’t the least bit surprised when he came bursting in guns blazing.”
“ Eight hours later and now you ask me this? That’s easy. The suits we’re all wearing. I told you they were bullet and blaster proof, at least to small weapons fire.”
“What about the burning holes I saw after he got hit?”
“That’s how the uniforms work. They convert energy and displace it. It’s all part of the design. With bullets it’s a matter of converting the kinetic energy, with blasters it’s displacing the energy and shunting it off. It’s a great system.”
“Okay I get that now, but what about that alien boss back there, he said the guy we shot with the Stargrazer’s gun was his ‘predecessor’. What did that mean?”
“Yes what did that mean?” The General asked as he entered the cabin from the sleep quarters in the back .
“Not sleeping General? I’m surprised.”
“Believe me, son, I’ve gotten enough rest the past few months in that hell hole. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you talking about that little gestapo wannabe. What was that about?”
Mark grin ned and took a deep breath, “He was a clone. So is your replacement by the way.”
“What? What are you talking about? They cloned me? When?”
“Probably months ago, maybe longer. All they needed was a stray hair or some skin follicles. They made another you, without a mind of course, and programmed him to do their bidding. That’s how they were hoping to stall us, and stop my FTL drive from ever being completed.”
The General sat back in his seat, looking stunned. “Bastards ,” was all he said.
“What was all that with the terraforming about?” Eddie asked as he entered the control cabin.
“Think about it, what did that mountain range look like to you? At least a small section of.”
“I don’t know.” Ariel answered.
“Virginia.”
“Huh?” Eddie barked.
“Virginia. The Blue Ridge Mountains, west of the seat of our government. They recreated the Blue Ridge Mountains and built a base under them. Guaranteed that same base is under the real Blue Ridge and has been there for a long time. Far enough from DC to avoid detection, unless it’s under close scrutiny, but there’s been no reason for that, and close enough to feed the fake General orders and for him to have a place to report to only a short distance away.”
“My God, we’ve been infiltrated.” Abruzzi groaned.
“It’s worse than that General, if they replaced you this was just the tip of the iceberg. They could very easily have replaced the President, the joint chiefs, congress, anyone. This was a carefully orchestrated assault that took years to implement. That means they have been watching us for a very long time.”
“But who are “they”? Surely not the inhabitants of that backwater world.”
“No, I don’t believe it was anyone commanding their forces out of that dust bowl either, General. Somewhere else out there, very well hidden, is our enemy, our true enemy. We have to get back home, and begin retrofitting the fleet with my magno-disc engines but only after we find how deep our doppelganger problem is.
You were right before General, when you said this adventure is far from over. We have a lot ahead of us yet.”
“So what now? Red asked as he rejoined everyone and slid into one of the control seats.
“Find the Cag, that’s where we have to start.”
“Uh, I think we just did that.” Ariel turned in surprise to face Mark. She touched a control on her virtual panel and suddenly the display screen zoomed in and showed an image of the Cagliostro, listing sideways in space, motionless and dead, smoke trailing into space from her hull.
Chapter Eleven
“What the hell…” Mark rumbled.
“What do you think happened here?” Red asked Mark.
“No idea, maybe they were overrun by enemy forces. I could see
“Hhmm? How’d I know what?”
“That Red was alive. You weren’t the least bit surprised when he came bursting in guns blazing.”
“ Eight hours later and now you ask me this? That’s easy. The suits we’re all wearing. I told you they were bullet and blaster proof, at least to small weapons fire.”
“What about the burning holes I saw after he got hit?”
“That’s how the uniforms work. They convert energy and displace it. It’s all part of the design. With bullets it’s a matter of converting the kinetic energy, with blasters it’s displacing the energy and shunting it off. It’s a great system.”
“Okay I get that now, but what about that alien boss back there, he said the guy we shot with the Stargrazer’s gun was his ‘predecessor’. What did that mean?”
“Yes what did that mean?” The General asked as he entered the cabin from the sleep quarters in the back .
“Not sleeping General? I’m surprised.”
“Believe me, son, I’ve gotten enough rest the past few months in that hell hole. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you talking about that little gestapo wannabe. What was that about?”
Mark grin ned and took a deep breath, “He was a clone. So is your replacement by the way.”
“What? What are you talking about? They cloned me? When?”
“Probably months ago, maybe longer. All they needed was a stray hair or some skin follicles. They made another you, without a mind of course, and programmed him to do their bidding. That’s how they were hoping to stall us, and stop my FTL drive from ever being completed.”
The General sat back in his seat, looking stunned. “Bastards ,” was all he said.
“What was all that with the terraforming about?” Eddie asked as he entered the control cabin.
“Think about it, what did that mountain range look like to you? At least a small section of.”
“I don’t know.” Ariel answered.
“Virginia.”
“Huh?” Eddie barked.
“Virginia. The Blue Ridge Mountains, west of the seat of our government. They recreated the Blue Ridge Mountains and built a base under them. Guaranteed that same base is under the real Blue Ridge and has been there for a long time. Far enough from DC to avoid detection, unless it’s under close scrutiny, but there’s been no reason for that, and close enough to feed the fake General orders and for him to have a place to report to only a short distance away.”
“My God, we’ve been infiltrated.” Abruzzi groaned.
“It’s worse than that General, if they replaced you this was just the tip of the iceberg. They could very easily have replaced the President, the joint chiefs, congress, anyone. This was a carefully orchestrated assault that took years to implement. That means they have been watching us for a very long time.”
“But who are “they”? Surely not the inhabitants of that backwater world.”
“No, I don’t believe it was anyone commanding their forces out of that dust bowl either, General. Somewhere else out there, very well hidden, is our enemy, our true enemy. We have to get back home, and begin retrofitting the fleet with my magno-disc engines but only after we find how deep our doppelganger problem is.
You were right before General, when you said this adventure is far from over. We have a lot ahead of us yet.”
“So what now? Red asked as he rejoined everyone and slid into one of the control seats.
“Find the Cag, that’s where we have to start.”
“Uh, I think we just did that.” Ariel turned in surprise to face Mark. She touched a control on her virtual panel and suddenly the display screen zoomed in and showed an image of the Cagliostro, listing sideways in space, motionless and dead, smoke trailing into space from her hull.
Chapter Eleven
“What the hell…” Mark rumbled.
“What do you think happened here?” Red asked Mark.
“No idea, maybe they were overrun by enemy forces. I could see
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