Chapter 17

A.D. 2023-2024

"Watch him, Mick!" Sanjay, Mick's wingman shouted over the radio as they raced after the alien spacecraft. "He's headed for the asteroid belt!"

"He's got the angle on us, Sanjay," Mick replied. "There's no way we can cut him off. If he gets into the belt..."

He never got to finish the sentence. Suddenly, the alien craft was coming back toward them at the same speed with which it had been fleeing. Hot on its heels was an entire squadron of alien fighters.

"Jesus H. Christ!" Mick exclaimed as he slammed the joystick around and reversed course, hoping that Sanjay was doing the same. "Thank God for these grav-drives! You okay Sanjay?"

Sanjay wasn't. As Mick scanned his instrument panel he saw his wingman's fighter wink out of existence. Damned beam weapons! You couldn't see them with your eyes unless there was dust or gases to be ionized! Not much of that in space - not like in atmosphere. Mick jinked this way and that at random around the axis of his headlong flight away from the aliens.

"Sector seven control, this is Zebra One Five," he almost shouted into his mic. "We got jumped by a whole squadron of spooks at zero one seven mark three five two, about six hundred thousand kilometers from station Gemini Three Eight, trying to shake them b..."

The voice cut off mid word. Another flight of Yuee fighters was streaking toward the aliens, but they were too late to help the hapless patrol craft.

"Mr. President," the somber faced interviewer began, "you have been criticized for not keeping your campaign promises. Specifically, your promises to dissolve the United Earth union and give the nations back their sovereignty. How do would you answer those critics?"

"As you know, Mort," President Ramirez answered, making sure his good side was to the camera, "I ran on a platform of responsible government. I did, indeed promise to do my best to disband the union, and that is a promise that I still intend to keep. It is, however, one that will have to wait for the proper time. The media have reported on the increased alien activity. Indeed, a couple of attacks have actually reached Earth for the first time in over a year. Because of this, we have had to step up both research and manufacturing, and to increase our recruitment quotas. If we were to dissolve the union now, the experts tell us that we would no longer be able to meet any of our goals for research, production, or recruitment, and as you and your listeners know, the safety of Earth is my primary concern as President of United Earth."

"Certainly I can understand that Mr. President. Can you give our listeners an idea how long it will be before you can begin the dissolution process?"

"I meant to bring that schedule with me tonight, Mort," Ramirez answered, "but I'm still waiting for the aliens to let me know when they plan to stop attacking Earth."

"Very funny, Mr. President," Mort chuckled. "I'm sure your constituents, too, would like to know when that will be. Can you give us any idea how much longer you expect the aliens to continue?"

"Well, Mort," Ramirez answered, with a mental apology to his predecessor, "we have noticed an unwillingness on the part of the aliens to commit too many of their assets against a concerted defense. While we don't fool ourselves that we can annihilate them, we believe that, with the cooperation of the member nations, we can make it too expensive for the aliens to continue with their attacks. That is because we have the resources of an entire planet to draw on, while the aliens have only what they brought with them. This may explain their reluctance to engage us head-on."

"Now that we have a foothold in space and new drives that can get us into space and back much less expensively, do we have any plans to begin manufacturing, research and other efforts in space?"

Ramirez almost smiled, realizing that his staff had fed the interviewer that question. He managed to keep a straight face as he replied, "Why, yes, as a matter of fact, we are finding that construction of spacecraft, for instance, is much less expensive in space, especially since we have freelance prospectors scouring moons and the inner planets for materials. We expect to begin mining operations on the moon very soon. We also have, believe it or not, a few brave souls who have volunteered to look for exploitable resources in the asteroid belt. This is still contested territory, as you know, but the aliens have never attacked a civilian installation or vessel, so some are willing to take the chance."