Gridlock and Other Stories Part 1

GRIDLOCK.

AND OTHER STORIES.

By Michael McCollum.

FOREWORD.

When an author becomes successful, the publishers leverage the sales of his books by printing collections of his short fiction. For whatever reason, my publisher never seemed interested in doing a collection of my shorter works (perhaps they didn't think I was sufficiently successful).

With the introduction of Sci Fi - Arizona, I have decided to remedy that oversight. This book is a compendium of most of my short stories, novelettes, and novellas. The only works not represented here are the two sequels toBeer Run that make up the last two-thirds ofA Greater Infinity .

This book is intended for two audiences. The first, of course, are people who like the way I write.

Here you will find 13 shorter works that I hope you will enjoy as much as the novels you have read.

The second group is those newer writers who take part each month in Sci Fi - Arizona's Writer's Workshop. In theAuthor's Notes that follow each story, I will try to give you a sense of how the work came to be and discuss the writing techniques that make each story a successful piece of fiction. And, of course, I hope to entertain you. That is, after all, what a professional writer is supposed to do!

Finally, as a bonus, I have included the first chapter of my latest novel,Gibraltar Earth , as a preview to what you can expect to find at Sci Fi - Arizona in the future. Gibraltar Earth is the first book in theGibraltar Stars Trilogy. With it, I hope to prove that fiction distributed on the INTERNET is every bit as good as what you find in bookstores. Look for it in 1999, right here on Sci Fi - Arizona!

-----Michael McCollum, Tempe, AZ, April 24, 1998

DUTY, HONOR, PLANET.

A story of love, honor, courage, and the Strategic Defense Initiative...

Jan Pieter Heugens had been a hod carrier, a sailor, a revolutionary, and a hard working diplomat in his time. As he stood before his s.p.a.cious office window and watched the rain sluice down on New York from leaden skies, he reviewed his checkered career with a mood that matched the gloom of the weather. In the last dozen years, he had seen famines, and floods, and revolutions aplenty -- all of which the UN had somehow weathered under his stewards.h.i.+p as Secretary-General. As he watched the rivulets of water cascading down the gla.s.s wall in front of him, he wondered if either he or the UN would last long enough for his term of office to reach a dozen and one years.

The oaken door behind him opened and his secretary ushered a ragged figure inside. Heugens took a deep breath and turned to face the man he was careful to think of only by his code name, "Bernard."

Bernard peeled off a threadbare raincoat and tossed it over the back of one of the leather chairs in front of the Secretary-General's desk.

"Did you have a good flight down?"

"Average good for a re-entry, Mr. Secretary-General. A little b.u.mpy on final approach to the Cape," Bernard said, seating himself in the other chair. "I see by theTimes that the Security Council has scheduled a vote for next Wednesday."

"Don't believe everything you read in the papers. Torres is not about to let it come to a vote. The Motion to Censure is dead. It just hasn't laid down yet."

"Then we go as planned?"

"We go as planned. Have you found your man?"

Bernard nodded. "Yes. Of course, a thousand thingscould go wrong."

"Such as?"

"Our intelligence could be faulty. Maybe Torres is on to our scheme and feeding us what he wants us to hear."

"In that event, Bernard, we'd better prepare for the firing squad."

"What about Warren? Can we trust him?"

"Heis the President of the United States. If not him, who?"

Bernard's response was a rude noise.

"When can you get the ball rolling?" the S-G asked, tamping tobacco into his pipe. His doctor would not let him light it, but the act of holding it clenched between his teeth relaxed him.

"Forty-eight hours."Then we start operations two days from now. You put our plan into action."

"Order acknowledged, Mr. Secretary-General."

Heugens sighed. Now that the decision had finally been made, the burden on his shoulders felt lighter than it had in days.

"How about a gla.s.s of sherry before heading back?" asked his visitor.

"A whiskey'd go down better."

"Then whiskey it is!"

The Earth was a blue-white jewel poised against the jet-black canvas of open s.p.a.ce. Occasionally a patch of brown or green, or gray would poke through the all-encompa.s.sing white bands of clouds that girded the globe and obscured the familiar outlines of the seas and continents.

Friedrich Sta.s.sel gazed absently at the viewscreen at one end of the mess hall and noted the trailing terminator was near the western salient of Africa. He hurriedly gulped down the last of his tea. Two quick bites finished off the last of his toast and peach marmalade. It was late and he was due on duty in a few minutes.

Unnoticed by Sta.s.sel, Major N'Gomo, the Station Executive Officer, stepped through the messhall hatch and surveyed the crowded room with sharp eyes. He spotted the young German and moved quickly through the clutter of tables and subdued conversation to stand beside him. Sta.s.sel looked up to see a set of flas.h.i.+ng white teeth set in a face of darkest ebon.

"The Commandant would like to see you, Fred," the Ghanaian said.

"Yes sir," Sta.s.sel replied. He looked quizzically at N'Gomo, but the Exec's face was an aloof mask as always. No one could ever tell what went on behind those yellow tinged eyes. Sta.s.sel gathered up his tray, standing slowly to keep the cup and silverware in place in the one-third gravity of the s.p.a.ce station, and headed for the main hatch. As he pa.s.sed the disposal chute, he stuffed the utensils into its gaping maw with a clatter of steel on steel.

The Commandant's office was ninety degrees spinward around the Station's rim from the officer's mess. Sta.s.sel quick stepped his way around the rising curve of the Alpha Deck corridor, hurrying as fast as the in-station traffic laws would allow. He chewed his lower lip and wondered about the summons as he walked, mentally reviewing all of his activities for the last week. Had he committed an offense serious enough to warrant being called on the carpet by the Commandant himself? Offhand, he could not think of anything.

Of course, just because you did not know about it was no sure indication of a clear conscience as far as General Heinemann, the Commandant, was concerned. More than one officer had walked jauntily into Heinemann's office, only to emerge a whipped man. Rumor was that the Commandant could see through steel bulkheads up to a centimeter thick. Sta.s.sel had no reason to doubt it.

Outside the Commandant's office, Sta.s.sel stopped to check his uniform in the mirror provided for just that purpose. A blond young man with Heidelberg dueling scars around his scalp, a serious face, and soft blue eyes that ill befitted a soldier peered out of the mirror at him. The picture was completed by an asymmetric nose -- the result of ejecting from a burning plane at too high a speed in pilot training -- and a spotless black and silver uniform. He carefully brushed a couple of imagined wrinkles from his tunic andrubbed mirror-polished boots on pants legs for insurance.

Then he took a deep breath and knocked on the Commandant's door. A few seconds later he heard a m.u.f.fled order to enter. Sta.s.sel marched to the front of the Commandant's desk, snapped to attention, and saluted. Heinemann was making notes on a yellow note pad and continued writing as Sta.s.sel held the salute.

After a few moments, he put down the pen and looked up, his steel gray eyes more tired than Sta.s.sel could remember having seen them before. The Commandant returned the salute and leaned back in his chair.

"Have a seat, Friedrich. Smoke if you like."

Sta.s.sel was momentarily startled by General Heinemann's use of his first name. He had not known that the Commandant knew it. He hesitantly took one of the gray UN issue chairs in front of the desk, politely declining a cigar from the Commandant's humidor.

"How is your dear mother? It's been almost five years since I've seen her," Heinemann said, puffing a stogie alight and blowing a blue cloud of smoke toward the ventilator shaft. "I'm afraid I have been derelict in not visiting since your father left the service."

"Mutteris fine, Herr General."

"I served under your father inboardGraf Von Bismarck . Did you know that? I was his Executive Officer and his friend."

"My father used to talk a great deal about his days in s.p.a.ce aboardBismarck, Herr General. He spoke of you often, and only with highest regard."

"I was sorry to hear of his death last year, Friedrich. An accident on the autobahn is a tragic end for a s.p.a.ceman, no?"

"Yes sir. Most tragic."

"He was a good German, your father. In your great grandfather's time, that was a term of derision, Friedrich. Did you know that? It has been men like Hans Erich Sta.s.sel who put some respect back into the wordDeutschlander . Why as late as fifteen years ago, a Luftwaffe officer could never have worn black and silver. To do so would have been to invite comparison with Hitler and his maniac Schutzstaffeln, the dread SS. Do you understand what a handicap we have had to overcome, Friedrich? It was no easy thing to re-earn the respect of civilized folk after having lost it so thoroughly."

"Yes sir." Sta.s.sel wondered what the Commandant was getting at. The old martinet did not usually give himself over to reminiscing. It was a bad sign.

The Commandant cleared his throat, and snubbed out the burning cigar, attacking it as if it were an enemy. "I have orders, Hauptmann Sta.s.sel. You will report to the shuttle docking portal immediately after your meeting with the Briefing Officer. There you will take the in-orbit shuttle to Peace Control Satellite Alpha-Nine for duty until relieved. Your personal gear is already aboard."

"Alpha-Nine, Herr General? Robertson has Alpha-Nine on the duty roster next s.h.i.+ft."

"Robertson is in the brig with Garcia. They got into a disagreement in the Lounge last watch and will be cooling off for the next ten days or so.""Robertson and Garcia? I can't believe it. What started it?"

"What else?" the Commandant asked, staring idly at the blue and white UN flag that decorated one side of his office. His voice was weary with too much strain and work.

Sta.s.sel did not have to ask what he meant. Robertson was an American and Garcia a Mexican.

Their fight had started over the border crisis, of course. They were too good friends to let anything other than women or politics come between them.

"It's getting bad, isn't it?" he asked.

Heinemann sighed. "Worse than you might think, Hauptmann. Even the ranks of the Peace Enforcers are not immune to these internecine squabbles that have broken out all over the face of the Earth. If it is not the North Americans against the South, then it is the Australians versus Indonesia, or j.a.pan against China and West Russia. I tell you the whole world is going to Satan in a hand trolley."

Heinemann glanced at the chronometer on the bulkhead behind Sta.s.sel. "The time is getting short, Hauptmann. You still need to be briefed."

"Yes sir."

"Before you go, Friedrich. Do you know why I am picking you for this a.s.signment instead of the backup astronaut?"

"No sir."

"Because, like your father, you are a good German. And the world needs more of us. We know how to follow orders without question. Few other people do. It is a much-maligned trait, Friedrich. The Yankees and French are always making snide comments about blind Prussian obedience to orders. Do not let them faze you. In the current situation, blind obedience to orders is the only thing that is going to save us. I need men in orbit who can keep their heads and do their duty. Can you?"

"I think so, sir."

"So do I, Friedrich. You are your father's son. Now you had better see the Briefing Officer in Compartment One-Twelve. You are minus minutes for that shuttle launch. They'll hold it if you're late, but they won't like it."

"Thank you, Herr General."

Wing Commander Livingston was on detached service from the RAF. His powder blue uniform looked out of place next to Sta.s.sel's silver and black. Sta.s.sel sat in an aluminum chair and took notes as Livingston reeled off figures in his clipped, Oxford accent.

" ... Your area of responsibility will include Longitudes 100 West to 120 West, Captain. Your satellite will be in an alternating synchronous...o...b..t with Beta-Nine, of course, and you will have prime responsibility in the Northern Hemisphere during even watch periods and Southern Hemisphere during the odd. Luckily, south of the equator there is only empty ocean between 100 and 120 West, so you'll be able to get some rest.

"You are hereby directed to pay especially close attention to the situation around the US--Mexican border..." Livingston looked up, the podium light casting shadows on his face. "Watch your a.s.s on that one, Fred. It is a tinderbox. The Mexicans are bound to try a raid between now and the Security Council vote on Friday.""I thought the vote would be Wednesday," Sta.s.sel said.

"Wouldn't bet on it if I were you, chap. Besides, I have Friday afternoon in the pool. So I can hope."

"How do you think the Council will vote, Livingston?"

"I'd say they will turn the resolution down flat. Too many people do not like the Yanks for it to pa.s.s. They enjoy the sight of the Mex dwarf tweaking the Giant's nose, and they will vote against it just to keep the pot boiling. However, to make sure, you can bet the politicians in Mexico City will try to score another coup to intimidate the rest of the Council into voting their way. G.o.d knows it's easy enough to do."

"And if the Mexicans keep it up?"

"Then it'll come to war quick enough. With Warren in the White House, it is practically preordained. He barely sc.r.a.ped by last election with strong Ecocrat support. The Mex's are punching the Ecocrats right where it hurts. Warren is going to have to act quickly or else lose his base of power.

And if it comes to war, you know what that will mean."

Sta.s.sel nodded.

It had started as an argument over import quotas on Mexican sugar beets. In the bad old days, nothing would have come of it. The Mexicans would have complained to Was.h.i.+ngton, only to be ignored. A storm of injured Latin pride would have boiled up in Mexico, but they would have been powerless to act.

However, the bad old days were long gone. Two things had occurred to permanently change the balance of power in the world, and not necessarily for the best as far as the current situation was concerned.

The first was the rise of the powerful Ecocrat lobby. Growing out of the environmental movement of the late twentieth century, they were a power in every democracy in the world. In the US particularly, they represented a large, powerful, and vocal voting bloc dedicated to the proposition that all things ecological were sacred. They were one-issue voters, ready to kick politicians out of officeen ma.s.se for the slightest ideological impurity.

The second development was the formation of the UN Peace Enforcers following the twenty-day scare of the Misfire War. The Peace Enforcers were a multinational force with a single mission: To stop any aggressor who struck against any UN member state. Their unofficial motto was, "You start the war and we'll finish it!"

In theory, any act of aggression by one nation against another would be met instantly by the orbital lasers and Peace Enforcer fusion rockets. However, in practice there was a threshold level of violence, a tripwire effect, below which the c.u.mbersome Security Council machinery would fail to respond.

These two facts were the natural precursors to the current crisis on the North American continent.

Lone Mexican Air Force planes -- officially piloted by bandits and renegade officers -- had struck north at a series of unusual targets designed to put intense pressure on the administration in Was.h.i.+ngton in the sugar beet dispute. Instead of hitting cities or centers of military and industrial power with the nuclear weapons Mexico was rumored to have, the planes struck against targets that the powerful Ecocrat lobby considered irreplaceable national treasures.Carlsbad -- where a single smart bomb had penetrated the visitor center and elevator shaft to explode in the cavern below, causing ma.s.sive destruction. And more importantly, sealing the caverns for a hundred years due to radioactive contamination by the Cobalt 60 powder that had cladded the high explosive bomb.

Lake Mead -- where a specially developed film of evil smelling resin lay on the surface of the lake, killing fish by the millions, leaving their rotting bodies to wash ash.o.r.e and provide graphic pictures for the television cameras.

The Tonto National Forest -- thirty percent destroyed in a firestorm started by Mexican incendiary bombs.

Such limited violence was primarily psychological in its impact and well below the tripwire level that would galvanize the Security Council to action. Instead of hard action to stop the raids, the Council had indulged in bombast and recriminations. Complicating the matter were a number of small nations who supported Mexico for reasons of their own. Supported her to the point where they refused to believe the irrefutable evidence provided by Peace Control Satellite cameras. When a Resolution of Censure was finally introduced, the small nation delegates had fallen to bickering over the placement of commas.

There the crisis stood, stalemated and explosive. But should the situation develop into a shooting war -- in other words, should the Americans attack -- Sta.s.sel had no doubt of the UN response.