John Ringo - Von Neumann’s War

Ret Ball: My God! You speak truth, my friend!

Caller: Indeed! I suggest everybody get out of the cities and make as far into the wilderness as you can. Prepare by finding natural sources of water and foods and bring and store as much nonperishable foodstuffs as you can. I can only imagine what the poor people in the occupied regions are going through.

Ret Ball: Hey, you bring up another good point. Why have we heard nothing from survivors or refugees from the occupied zones? Are there no refugees or survivors? Thanks again for your call, Megiddo, as always you gave us a lot of food for thought. Next caller is Tina from Alabama. Hello Tina, you are on the Truth Nationwide.

Alice Pike was good at what she did. In fact, there were those in certain circles that said when it came to developing microprocessor technologies and superminiature space-hardened electronics that there was no equal. Dr. Pike had taken the “brain tube” from the wrecked bot the Huntsville Redoubt was keeping and had it scanned with every type of analysis tool known to man. She had it put through X rays, electron microscopy, MRIs, electric field mapping, magnetic field mapping, acoustic mapping, heat conductivity, reflectivity, conductivity, superconductivity, diamagnetism, and a host of other tests.

The only thing she could figure was that there were patterns within the tube but they changed. After each successive X ray, the internal patterns looked different. So at least she knew that the brain was active in some way. The question was if it was changing on its own or if the X rays were changing it? Alice could think of no way to tell. She was stumped.

“This is impossible,” she muttered to herself as she looked at the various diagrams and sensor images of the interior of the brain tube.

“What’s impossible, Alice?” Roger Reynolds and Traci Adams had slipped in behind her to observe but not to disturb.

“Jesus, Roger! Don’t sneak up on me like that. You nearly scared me to death.” Alice looked away from the monitors for a second and rubbed her eyes.

“I thought you might need this.” Traci handed Alice a cup of coffee.

“Thanks,” Alice said as she grabbed the cup with both hands and held it beneath her face to savor the aroma and to feel the steamy warmth against her skin. The stimulus relaxed her and settled her nerves a bit. She took a big swig from the cup. “I really did need this.”

“So, Alice, what is impossible?” Roger asked.

“This crazy thing!” she pointed at the brain tube. “I’ve scanned it in everyway I can think of and I can’t make heads or tails of it. The electron microscopy shows these various regions of different densities and my guess is that these regions with the curvy bands here are some sort of interface or junction between different materials like the junctions in semiconductors. But these smaller spots that are peppered throughout the thing… I just have no idea. Oh, and every time they were X rayed some of them changed.”

“Changed? How?” Traci sat down by Alice to get a better angle on the monitors.

“Well, that varies. Sometimes in size and sometimes in position.” She shrugged. “I dunno.”

“Roger, look here!” Traci pointed at the monitor. “You see that spot there and then over here there are these two spots in the subsequent photo.”

“Yes, I see. So?” Roger could tell that Traci thought she was on to something but wasn’t quite sure what.

“I noticed that earlier, Traci. But I can’t make heads or tails of it.” Alice pointed out two other similar sets of images.

“Don’t you see… of course y’all don’t, you’re not that type of physicist. Those are like targets in a decay shower in an accelerator experiment or like we see in the atmosphere when cosmic rays hit it. It’s a decay chain. That is something nuclear going on there, ” Traci pointed out excitedly and smiled. “Uh… oh my.”

“What, Traci?” Both Roger and Alice asked in unison.

“Was this thing checked with a Geiger counter?”

“Oh Jesus!” Alice gasped. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“Well, wait a minute. Don’t get excited now. We checked this thing out thoroughly when it first came in.” Roger calmed them. “There was no radiation.”

“Yeah, I realize that Roger. But… some sort of decay has taken place in it since the X rays. It could be hot now.” Traci shrugged her shoulders.

“Let’s check it out.” Roger picked up the lab phone and called the operator. “This is Dr. Reynolds, put me through to my secretary, please.”

“One minute, Dr. Reynolds.”

“Dr. Reynolds’ office, this is Sarah, can I help you?”

“Sarah, this is Roger.”

“Yes sir?”

“I need a Geiger counter in room 247B in the lab facility in two minutes. Would you see to that for me please?”

“Right awa,y Dr. Reynolds.”

“Thanks.”

“But I’m telling you that looks like a fission or a decay chain or an air shower of some sort. That is the result of something subatomic!” Traci argued.

“Well, then if it is, somehow the fragments are stable and not hot,” Roger said. “Perhaps that is how this thing sends data or something.”

“Oh hey, there’s a thought! Statistical decays have been used for stable clocks for years. Why not use one for logic gates… hmmm?” Alice started scanning through the images more closely. “Not to be rude, but… I have an idea and I think better without interruption.”

“Alice, is that your polite way of telling us to get the hell out of your hair?” Roger asked.

“Yes.” Alice smiled sheepishly.

“Come on, Traci. We have other things to do. Alice, keep us posted.”

Alice didn’t respond. She was already too involved with her train of thought. Decay chains for logic gates…

The old copper mine had begun to take shape and was becoming more “lived in” every day. Helena had added some more homey touches to the main chamber once the electricity and plumbing were completed. She had brought down some of the decorative pieces from the cabin, including some picture frames, a painting or two, an afghan that her mother had knitted for her, a few throw pillows, and a couple of lamps.

The electrical wiring and plumbing that had been run along the floor and around the walls were now mostly covered up by two by fours and paneling on the walls and two by sixes and a combination of decking, plywood, and OSB particle board on the floor. It had taken more than thirty trips down the mountain to town to every hardware store and lumber yard to find enough materials to finish the interior of the shelter. Since the effective martial law on resources due to the alien threat, only minimal materials were available. He did manage several buckets of 10D nails, an assortment of woodscrews, sheetmetal screws, some nuts and bolts, a few cans of spray paint, and several gallons of leftover paints — Helena made him buy the paint. There would probably have been no way to gather enough materials to complete the interior of the mine shafts had he not come across an abandoned horse barn a few miles outside of town.

Richard had watched the barn for a couple of days as he made trips to town and saw no activity there. Once he stopped he realized that the wood was probably more than fifty years old and nearly petrified to the point that it would never rot. There was some termite damage so he picked up some chemicals at the hardware store that took care of that. He had spent several weeks since he had begun the shelter in the mine tearing down the barn and hauling the materials up the mountain and down the mine shaft. Some of the materials he had used to repair some minor storm damage to the cabin that had been their home while the shelter was under construction. Helena still spent the majority of her time there, but Richard had convinced her that the time would come when she would be happy to be down in the old abandoned copper mine.