Chapter 22

The main room of the Jenkins' home opened onto the backyard and pool area. Outside the windows, a neighborhood party gained momentum. Salome listened intently to the presentation from Team Ninja Raiders, the last practice before tomorrow's Mind Meld Competition. Initially she sat down out of motherly guilt. Once the kids started talking, the amount of research and testing they had done became obvious. They looked so darling in their black Ninja Gis.

"It sounds crazy enough to work," Ted whispered into her ear.

Salome flinched, discovering the boy next to her. She almost squeaked out of surprise. "Oh-eck," the hiccup caught her by surprise. Closing her eyes, she lightly tapped her breastbone with two fingers. "I got so int-eck," her whole body lurched. "Caught up-eck," Salome forced an inaudible burp. "Damn nanites could fix anything life-threatening, hiccups weren't in that catagor-eck."

"Try holding your breath," Ted offered, trying to help Salome not have to speak.

Salome hiccupped, and farted at the same time. Ted froze. Salome looked at the boy. He was biting his lip. Salome stuck her tongue out at Ted. He turned a heavy pink in the cheeks. "I'm cured."

Ted responded, "Grea-eck."

Joyce's five-year-old daughter, Dena redirected their attention. "Out by the pool, we have our demonstration on how Team Ninja Raiders tackled the 'Slow the Swarm' problem." The little group led Salome and Ted outside. As they hurried to set up the demonstration, the crowd grew.

The pool area opened to a large shared green space. Dena could smell the hot dogs and burgers that Daddy and Papa were cooking. Other men stood by the grill. She knew the neighbors. The Reys, all blacksmiths, and Daddy's fellow officer, whose new last name was Polanski. The two Marines worked with Papa at the school. The boss-lady Marine stood with mothers and wives. Who some of the neighbors were escaped her. She knew the names of their kids though. That was much more important.

They set about the tasks to prepare the demonstration. Karl and Ben stood next to the launcher; Dena and Kurt walked a good distance away. Each member gave thumbs up. "Hobson," Dena whispered, "we're ready."

Hobson muted the background music. "May I have your attention? Team Ninja Raiders is prepared to give their demonstration." The crowd began forming in a semicircle.

"Welcome to the Team Ninja Raiders demonstration." Karl followed the script. Tomorrow, Hobson would not be there. "This is our idea to slow down Sa'arm Troopers." He paused while counting to ten. "We are using medieval technology."

All six of the team's parents stood together. Kurt and Dena unfolded a thick mat. "These blue dots represent Swarm Troopers." Kurt spoke pointing at the spread out target area. "It represents a typical Pha-Phalanx, of the Sa'arm ground forces. The pad randomly uses one of the five identified dist-dist-dispersal patterns."

Dena pulled a range finder from her pocket. Kneeling, she read the display aloud. "We are fifteen meters from the target. In our scale, that is one point five kilometers."

"Our target," Ben took over on cue, "is this area colored red." He looked up, trying to recall his part. He nodded, remembering. "In reality, it is an area of two-hundred square meters." He turned to look at the spectators. The firing team knelt by the trebuchet.

Karl punched the numbers into a study pad. "Ben, the counter weight needs to be." Karl shook the pad, "one hundred seventeen grams."

"Gotcha, Karl." Ben pulled a blue, a green, and seven white rings from the container. He dropped the rings into the counter weight box on the miniature trebuchet.

Kurt and Dena stepped away from the target. Dots on the target represented moving Swarm Troopers. They would begin moving using one of the five identified dispersal patterns.

"Ready everybody?" Karl called as Kurt and Dena rushed to his side. Ben stepped over to join the group.

Ben raised his hand. Then he held up three fingers. "Three," shouted the group. One finger turned down, "Two." In the steady cadence "One," rang out. He held his fist aloft, followed by the cry of "Fire!"

The tiny nineteen-centimeter tall weapon cycled through a release. A minuscule ball of mesh climbed five meters into the air. Expanding with each second, the net slowed, falling almost vertically landing with amazing precision. Karl held his pad up to survey the result. "Our device deployed over the area ensuring eighty-one percent coverage of the target area."

Dena leaned in, looking at the pad. Ben smiled. Karl handed the pad to Kurt. Reading the result, he shared it with the audience. "Two hundred and twelve members of a force of two hundred and fifty six are impeded."

A cheer erupted from the gathered throng. "We need to thank our parents for helping us with the research." He and his team led a quick cheer. "And Mr. Rey's smithy for creating the pieces and parts of our trebuchet," another quick cheer rose. "Finally, we need to thank Hobson, our house AI, who helped with the math, target, and net." A last hurray circled the area. "Thank you again." The team bowed and a final cheer ran through the crowd.

After it settled down, the eating began. ROTC Commander Holloman drew Salome aside. "Excuse me." A pregnant nude girl walked over to Salome leading a toddler by the hand. "Katie's hungry," the girl stated.

The toddler thrust her hands up to Salome. She bent down, picking up the tot. Sitting on a love seat behind her, she slipped a breast free. Positioning the little one to feed, she invited the commander to sit.

Rose Holloman took the invitation. She pointed at Ben and Kurt. "According to their scale factor the trebuchet is nineteen meters tall." An air of sorrow swam through the words.

"We've known," Salome winked trying to change the mood. "Once you've started working with them," Salome gestured to the main group of kids in the pool, "sharing your military experience and knowledge, then we'll see what their devious little minds can do." The surety of her voice empowered her statement.

Holloman became speechless. This little woman wanted the Sa'arm threat eradicated. Not just wanted it gone but also expected it to be eliminated in her lifetime. Holloman decided she wanted to have a recording of the statement as a video. It would be good to send up the chain of command.

"I didn't think you would take such an interest in military matters." It was the first thing Holloman could say.

Salome rocked slowly. "Once you hold one of these," she looked at the feeding child in her embrace, "and you know what the Swarm wants to do, it's just a normal motherly reaction."

Holloman placed a hand over her own occupied womb. Suddenly the sentiment of the concubine began to make sense.

In the morning, the Mind Meld Competition took center stage in the colony. Governor Danvers had declared a holiday. Two months after Day One on the colony, everyone needed a break. More than just the competition was taking place today. Mr. Greenjeans, the agricultural AI, was monitoring the colony ranches, freeing those hands to be here. Once she broke the news, one of their first reactions was to ask where the nearest portals were in case of an emergency.

One of the teams, The Lookers, won by default. No other group in their age range chose to remain in the competition. Their Oorah Bar had left Wayward with Lieutenant Spencer. A second home had been found with working men and women in the colony.

"The Lookers are introducing a new set of flavors today," Mary Nez stated to the crowd. "To go along with our fruit flavors we want to introduce caramel, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate." The resulting cheer was overwhelmingly female. Brave men moved to the side as the girls distributed samples to the audience.

"At least we had a break after the Lookers upstaged the universe." Gino complained whenever he was nervous.

Louis changed the focus of the team. "Calm down, Gino. Let's get set up."

"Go suck dick, Louis," Gino countered in anger. "I'm team leader."

Louis fired right back. "I'm scheduled for to do that tonight at the ranch."

"Oh," Gino performed a double take. "You know what I mean." That broke the tension and the boys continued to set up.

Gino slipped over to Louis, "I didn't mean anything by that."

"I know," Louis smiled at his friend, tagging his shoulder with a light punch. "Let's get started." The boys spent another several minutes setting up.

After the introduction, Gino took center stage. "We are team Deep Drop. We are here today to address the Special Delivery Problem." The other members rolled out a cloth covered object with a squeaky wheel. Hidden from view, the rough outline hinted at its dimensions: two meters tall at the tail, one meter at the front and two meters wide at the widest point. "One of the points was to use technology that was known to the Sa'arm. We chose to create the Squad Sled out of Hive Sphere hull material." That brought a murmur from the crowd. Gino froze.

"The hive sphere is supposed to only fly once," Louis stepped up to Gino, "so is the Squad Sled." That brought a chuckle.

"The hull material is very heat resistant, as well as being surprisingly light." Gino moved to stand by the covered craft. "Our design can carry a full weapon reload for a squad, as well as an additional two hundred kilos."

"Borrowing an idea from Formula One," Randy took the speaking duties, "the Squad Sled is a monocoque lift body."

The covering lifted away. Flat on the top with a bulbous underside that thinned as it approached any side. The only identifiable parts that seemed to come from an aircraft were the twin tails.

Randy paused, waiting for din to die a little. "This idea we stole from a television show. Our dads are closet science fiction fans. They were watching The Six Million Dollar Man. In the opening part, a lift body aircraft crashes.

The team could see several heads bobbing in agreement. Papa had turned beet red and Joyce was grinding a knuckle into Dad's ribs.

Phil stepped forward. "Ours will land better." That produced a chuckle for the head bobbers.

Randy started again, "Now for some technical information."

Ethan stepped up wearing a lab coat and fake glasses. "We used a door actuator design from a captured Sa'arm ship to power our control surfaces. Anita Rey, our colony's technology tinker, was able to adapt Sa'arm circuitry to emulate a remote control flight stabilizer." A spotlight illuminated Anita. The boys started a round of applause. Anita stood holding her son, Howard. He waved.

Two thirds of the flat top opened on both sides. All the applause ended. Ethan continued. "Our hull thickness is fifteen millimeters. Besides its heat tolerance, the hull plating will deflect known Sa'arm small arms fire."

Louis, Phil, and Randy rushed to the open side. They began lifting out ammunition cases and equipment bags. Randy turned, facing the audience. "The bed of the storage bay is a conveyor. It will move all objects to the open side to provide cover for Marines unloading it." Turning, he joined the others carrying away supplies.

"In the three thousand simulations run by the collective AIs, we have had a ninety seven point two percent success rate."

The team gathered by the model. Gino pushed Louis forward. Louis looked at his friend and raised his eyebrows. Gino gave a small flick toward the audience. Louis took a small step. "Team Deep Drop thanks you for listening to our solution for the Special Delivery Problem."

The applause lasted long enough for the boys to bow twice. Leslie took the stage. "The final three presentations will take place after lunch, which is being served in the gym."

Even as the group began pouring out of the auditorium, Leslie grabbed the team into a big hug. "I'm so proud of you boys." Surprisingly, Leslie discovered she was the one who had to break the hug.

Anne, Eve, Jane, and Theresa sat at a table on the stage. Each of them was dressed in a lab coat. The Powder Puffs were pissed with Gino. He was the one who changed Ethan's costume to mimic theirs. At lunch, each of them cornered Gino separately. He spent the rest of lunch begging the adults for a lock on his door.

Eve began, "Welcome to a research proposal to address the Divide and Conquer problem. We are team Powder Puff." There were a few cheers from some of their classmates. "My name is Eve. Since working with live Sa'arm troops is not allowed, we used simulation and research to make our conclusions." She turned, "Anne."

Anne picked up and continued. "Our new mother Tiffany was attacked in transit to Wayward." A picture of Tiffany appeared above and behind the girls. "Her injury and recovery gave us the idea. A vast amount of research has been made to discover how the Sa'arm gestalt communicates. What we want to propose is disrupting the connection inside each trooper. Theresa."

The picture switched to a trooper. Several people viewing gasped. Theresa waited for the commotion to soften. A few people left, taking small children. "Dr. Whittenauer's team made intensive studies of the physiology. What caught our interest were the chemical receptors in their nervous system." A high quality drawing of a pair of Sa'arm neurons displayed on the screen. "Jane."

"To make this viable, we need to propose two points of research." A big 'one' appeared on the screen. "First we need to develop a dimethyl sulfoxide, also called DMSO type compound that works on Sa'arm troopers." She waited more than a breath. "My granny was prescribed DMSO mixed with anti-inflammatory drugs. When she applied it to her knees it spread throughout her body." On cue, an image showed little arrows spreading DMSO across a body. "If she touched you for a few seconds you could taste garlic on your tongue."

Music from the Grateful Dead began playing in the background. An unidentified male voice over spoke the music, "Turn on, tune in, and drop out."

Eve stood. "The second part of our proposal is to send the Sa'arm on a psychedelic trip." A Sa'arm trooper appeared; an eight-centimeter strip of rose-colored clear plastic surrounded the head. It wore a chartreuse t-shirt with a peace signs emblazoned on it. This produced a good laugh. "Reading the published research and observation from our combat forces, we believe that if we induce sensory input hallucinations in a group of troopers it will adversely affect the gestalt mind geometrically." Eve sat. Theresa stood.

"When my mom was recovering, her brain could not control her movements." Theresa's voice cracked a bit. Jane put her hand on Theresa's arm. "Her initial locomotion was jerky and difficult. Mom's mind could not completely control her movements."

Anne took over speaking. "We believe if we can send part of a hive on a trip. The fighting strength and effectiveness of the Sa'arm, especially in naval engagements near a planet with ground troops will be reduced considerably. An animation showed Sa'arm ships moving erratically.

Jane exchanged places with Anne. "In our studies, we have discovered that every member race of the Confederacy at one time or another dealt with hallucinogenic drugs." Names of the member races of the Confederacy flashed across the screen. Below them, the name of drug that once plagued them. "Non member races in the AI's data bank suffered likewise." More names scrolled through at an increased rate.

The Powder Puffs stood. Walking in a line, they came out from behind the table. Anne faced her team, and then turned to the audience. "Our proposal is turn the Sa'arm gestalt mind against itself. Thank you for listening to our proposal."

Over the next three hours, the teams answered questions by both the judges and the public. After supper, the groups trudged back to the house. Ray-ray carried the sleeping Eve straight to her bed. Following that example, the other girls climbed into theirs. Team Ninja Raiders ended up tucking in the Powder Puffs. The boys of Deep Drop laughed at the idea. Forty-five minutes later, Bill and Ray-ray started carrying them to their beds.

During lunch at school the next day, screams erupted after the announcement that both the Powder Puffs and Deep Drop were having their ideas join the Lookers in being referred to Central Command.