something in midair. “Bullets make holes, lasers burn holes... missiles blow shit up...”
She paused, shaking her head, “I don’t know what I’m trying to say, sir. I’m just, I’ve never seen a weapon that mangles what it hits, folding it in on itself, compressing it, it’s like some giant hand just reached out and crushed my people... and your colony.”
She stopped again, taking a breath before continuing. “And then there’s this...”
She tossed the chunk of tether to the table, where it actually glided for a moment before touching the wood of the desk. Samuel frowned, looking at it, then looked up, “Is this...?”
“From the colony’s Orbital Tether, yes sir.”
He looked at the cut end, then at the end that had been snapped, and his eyes widened, “This is impossible.”
She nodded, “I know. Any force that could have snapped a tether like that should have pulled the counterweight right out of orbit first. It’s still there though, I checked.”
“My God,” Samuel replied, frowning at the piece of carbon laying in front of him. “The force... it’s almost incalculable...”
“Almost?” Sorilla asked, the corner of her mouth turning up.
Samuel looked up at her, a hint of amusement in his expression as well. “Well, Sergeant... we are largely a colony of researchers here. I’m sure I can find someone to tell you exactly what level of force this would have taken.”
“Do that,” Sorilla said seriously, “And anyone else who might have an idea too. I was sent in for intel, and I’ve got some of that... but I’ll be damned if I can figure out what it means.”
“Perhaps we can help then,” Samuel nodded to himself, “I’ll begin speaking with some of our more... academic minded members of society. They’ve been in need of something useful to do for quite some time anyway.”
“Thank you, while you’re at it let your geeks loose on this too,” She said, dropping the sawed off chunk of the strange thing that had attacked them onto the makeshift desk as well. “I’m going to prepare my report to the Fleet. I’ll be able to transmit it tonight as the moons pass over. I’d appreciate it if you could get any first hand reports of what happened when the colony was attacked for me. I’ll provide recording equipment, if you need it.”
“No, that won’t be necessary,” He said, shaking his head. “We have such equipment aplenty.”
She nodded, she hadn’t really expected much different. Everyone, especially scientists of any type, carried portable computers, even if only for day scheduling and holding contact addresses.
“I’ll have those for you by nightfall,” Samuel promised, “and whatever we can figure out on this too.”
Sorrilla nodded, “Thanks.”
*****
As he’d promised, Samuel delivered the force calculations within a couple hours, but it was what he had to say about the chunk of rock she’d cut off the Golem thing that piqued her curiosity.
First, it wasn’t rock. It was silicate based, to be sure, but it had no more in common with rock than a human being had in common with diamond. The entire chunk of material was criss-crossed with nanometer sized pathways that resembled nothing more than neural superhighways. It had a far more fluidic structure than anything any of them had ever seen, with enough completely alien structures to have the local egg heads yanking their hair out and wishing for the labs on the Counterweight.
Despite all that, by nightfall she had her report filled out, as much as possible at any rate. She then added all the colonists’ impressions, as well as the theories Samuel’s academics came up with to the report and keyed in the coordinates on the laser transmitter. It hummed happily in her ear, letting her know that it was working, and she settled back to wait. The distance to the moon was far enough that her stomach clenched while waiting for the return signal bounce to confirm a lock.
She let out a
She paused, shaking her head, “I don’t know what I’m trying to say, sir. I’m just, I’ve never seen a weapon that mangles what it hits, folding it in on itself, compressing it, it’s like some giant hand just reached out and crushed my people... and your colony.”
She stopped again, taking a breath before continuing. “And then there’s this...”
She tossed the chunk of tether to the table, where it actually glided for a moment before touching the wood of the desk. Samuel frowned, looking at it, then looked up, “Is this...?”
“From the colony’s Orbital Tether, yes sir.”
He looked at the cut end, then at the end that had been snapped, and his eyes widened, “This is impossible.”
She nodded, “I know. Any force that could have snapped a tether like that should have pulled the counterweight right out of orbit first. It’s still there though, I checked.”
“My God,” Samuel replied, frowning at the piece of carbon laying in front of him. “The force... it’s almost incalculable...”
“Almost?” Sorilla asked, the corner of her mouth turning up.
Samuel looked up at her, a hint of amusement in his expression as well. “Well, Sergeant... we are largely a colony of researchers here. I’m sure I can find someone to tell you exactly what level of force this would have taken.”
“Do that,” Sorilla said seriously, “And anyone else who might have an idea too. I was sent in for intel, and I’ve got some of that... but I’ll be damned if I can figure out what it means.”
“Perhaps we can help then,” Samuel nodded to himself, “I’ll begin speaking with some of our more... academic minded members of society. They’ve been in need of something useful to do for quite some time anyway.”
“Thank you, while you’re at it let your geeks loose on this too,” She said, dropping the sawed off chunk of the strange thing that had attacked them onto the makeshift desk as well. “I’m going to prepare my report to the Fleet. I’ll be able to transmit it tonight as the moons pass over. I’d appreciate it if you could get any first hand reports of what happened when the colony was attacked for me. I’ll provide recording equipment, if you need it.”
“No, that won’t be necessary,” He said, shaking his head. “We have such equipment aplenty.”
She nodded, she hadn’t really expected much different. Everyone, especially scientists of any type, carried portable computers, even if only for day scheduling and holding contact addresses.
“I’ll have those for you by nightfall,” Samuel promised, “and whatever we can figure out on this too.”
Sorrilla nodded, “Thanks.”
*****
As he’d promised, Samuel delivered the force calculations within a couple hours, but it was what he had to say about the chunk of rock she’d cut off the Golem thing that piqued her curiosity.
First, it wasn’t rock. It was silicate based, to be sure, but it had no more in common with rock than a human being had in common with diamond. The entire chunk of material was criss-crossed with nanometer sized pathways that resembled nothing more than neural superhighways. It had a far more fluidic structure than anything any of them had ever seen, with enough completely alien structures to have the local egg heads yanking their hair out and wishing for the labs on the Counterweight.
Despite all that, by nightfall she had her report filled out, as much as possible at any rate. She then added all the colonists’ impressions, as well as the theories Samuel’s academics came up with to the report and keyed in the coordinates on the laser transmitter. It hummed happily in her ear, letting her know that it was working, and she settled back to wait. The distance to the moon was far enough that her stomach clenched while waiting for the return signal bounce to confirm a lock.
She let out a
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