“Dream, tell me about those weapons. The … micro …” Ramius could not recall the names.
“Micro Fusion 0.025 Kiloton grenades,” Dream said.
“Yes! That one. How do they work?” Dream brought up a tutorial and demonstration explaining the weapon system, and Ramius watched it with interest. “How far can it be … uh … launched?”
“Approximately two thousand yards,” replied Dream.
“Oh. That’s even less than the Zephyr. Dream, I want to use one of these micros to explode near Marco’s cave without hurting anyone. But I prefer not to carry the weapon all the way to Victory and shoot at such close range. What do you suggest?”
“The grenade can be transported by Saginaw but not for the entire distance.” Dream paused. “If the UV carries the grenade north in the lake and then downriver as far as it is navigable, Saginaw has sufficient power to transport the grenade to near Marco’s cave. However, the payload of the grenade requires that it be quite a distance away and to the northeast of Marco’s cave. It is very powerful.
“Saginaw will not have sufficient power to return to its base, so it will be transported back here by the UV, which will be waiting. The grenade can be detonated from here remotely, as long as Saginaw is within five thousand yards.” “Okay. Now, signal to Marco. Let’s see if he answers.”
They waited for several minutes.
“No response.”
“I will need to send him a handwritten note.”
Shortly thereafter, Ramius exited the lower level of his house, where Saginaw was waiting. As he placed the note in front of Saginaw, an arm immediately reached out and took the note, and then the bird shot into the sky and out of sight. For Saginaw, it was only a two-hour flight to Marco’s cave, but it was too late to make the delivery tonight. So, Ramius went to bed after giving Dream instructions to deliver the note to Marco’s hands in the morning.
Ramius imagined Marco’s shock and smiled. He also gave instructions to Dream, to have Lobo ready to move out at daylight. The next morning, Ramius and Ana sat and ate an early breakfast while RJ still slept.
“I need to go check on Lobo.”
“Let me help you,” insisted Ana.
“Okay. Can you go and get Angie and a couple of the men? It’s time to move him back to his house.”
Ana walked toward the other houses while Ramius entered the shelter and saw Lobo resting peacefully, still sedated, on the rolling table, with Drake standing by and ready near the door. Lobo was moved out as gently as possible.
Ramius slid Lobo over onto the wooden plank stretcher that was lying across a table. Drake hastily retreated, and the door closed. Ramius watched Lobo and looked at the wound, which was dressed and clean. Minutes later, Ana arrived with Angie, Baggus, and Harper.
“Oh, baby!” cried Angie. “You okay? Why’s he sleepin’?”
“He will wake up soon. Don’t worry. He’s good,” reassured Ramius, and then he gave explicit instructions for Lobo’s recovery.
“Thanks, Ramius. Das a good job. I thought he gon’ die. I nevah seed a guy take a big jab like dat one an’ live. Dey always die.” Angie hugged Ramius while Baggus and Harper picked up the stretcher and carried Lobo away. Ramius looked at Ana and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Ray, I don’t pressure you with a lot of questions, but I wish you would tell me what’s going on. I don’t see how you are suddenly full of magic, designing buildings, and saving lives. I hope you know you can tell me anything,” said Ana sincerely.
“Yes, of course, darling. I do have some things to share.
I promise I will. But right now, I need to attend to something urgent. It has to do with Victory.”
“Don’t tell me you’re going there to talk to him!” Ana was alarmed.
“No. I just need to figure out whether we will tell them about the others. There isn’t much time to respond.” Ana didn’t want to defend the others, knowing that her doing so might put her own family at risk; so, she said nothing, hoping that Ramius would make the right decision. She went out and walked up the hill and around to the front of the house.
When Ramius heard the door above close, he locked the outer door and went into the shelter. “Dream, was it delivered?”
“Yes.” Ramius watched the replay of the delivery. He chuckled when he saw Marco nearly jump out of his skin. “Let’s call him again.” This time, Marco answered almost immediately. “Marco! Are you there?”
“Yes. I am here, Ramius. What reason have you to contact me? If you need to talk, I suggest you come here and see me.”
“Well, there was not enough time for that. Your men will be returning to Victory, I would guess by tomorrow, and they seem to think we are hiding people here, which I assure you we are not. Another thing you should know is that one of your men nearly killed one of ours. It was unprovoked and totally unnecessary. He may still die.”
“Who is it that’s injured?”
“A minion named Lobo.”
“Hmph!” grunted Marco.
“He is a good man.”
“Perhaps you can tell me: if the people who have left here did not go to Eden, then where did they go? We sent fast patrols on remote excursions in all directions. There is no one out there. They could only have gone in your direction.”
“Maybe they did go in our direction, but they are not here, and we have not seen them,” Ramius lied. “You come here accusing us and threatening to wipe us out ten days from now? I suggest you reconsider that.”
“Are you in a position to make suggestions?”
“Yes! I am! I am in a position to tell you to stay away from here, or there will be consequences.”
“Well, your little bird, it did startle me. But I don’t find it so scary. I think you are defenseless. We will come there and do as we please,” threatened Marco.
“I will give you a demonstration … today, before sundown. Tell everyone to be nowhere northeast of the village, or they will certainly die, and that will be your responsibility.”
“Fine! I look forward to the show. It had better be good.”
“I think you will enjoy it. You had better keep everyone by the river. We will talk after that.”
“Goodbye, Ramius.” Marco ended their conversation, sounding disgusted.
“Dream, place the grenade at a safe distance, then make sure the area is clear. I don’t want it to go off until I know he is watching. So, Saginaw should stay and watch, and then I can also see the weapon.”
“Understood.”
A few hours later, Drake loaded the Micro Fusion grenade into a compartment on the UV and left the room.
Dream then flooded the dock and released the UV from its mooring as the outer doors to the lake opened. The UV maneuvered through the door, sped off, and then turned slightly north toward the river outflow located many miles away. Two hours later, the UV entered the river outflow, negotiating giant underwater boulders and fallen trees, and started to go downriver in a northward direction headed toward Victory.
After another two hours, the UV neared the end of navigable waters, where the river became very wide and shallow. The UV surfaced, and Saginaw landed immediately as the compartment opened. Saginaw secured the grenade with its arms and pulled it in and under itself so that the load would be centered and balanced. Then, Saginaw levitated, looking more sluggish than normal but still able, and streaked away toward Victory.
Meanwhile, the UV closed the compartment, submerged itself into the pool, and began its descent. The UV then deployed long screws, which penetrated the matrix of mud and polished river stones and secured the UV where it powered down to await Saginaw’s return hours later.
As the day wore on, Ramius expected to hear a chirp coming from his waist pack at any moment. It happened while he was looking in on Lobo, who was now awake and doing fine in the care of Angie and Megan. Ramius politely excused himself following the soft chirp, which to anyone else sounded no different from that of a nearby bird.
Upon entering the shelter, Ramius rushed to the command center to watch the drama unfold. No one had gathered by the river; everyone was simply going about their business. However, Marco and his family were seated at a small table in the restaurant close to the river. He was facing the direction in which Ramius had told him to look.
At least I have his attention, Ramius thought.
“Is the grenade in place?”
“Yes. It is in place, and the area is clear.”
“Is there any risk of people getting hurt?”
“A shock wave will be sent through the village, but the detonation will be four thousand yards from the nearest structure. The shock wave will carry dust, which may irritate people’s eyes. There will be small, flying rocks that could potentially reach the village, but this is unlikely.” “So, what is Marco going to see exactly?”
“First, he will see the flash from the detonation almost instantly. But because there is a hill separating his line of sight from the center of the detonation, the light he sees will be scattered, not harmful. A strong seismic wave will be felt less than one second later. The ground will vibrate, and this could topple small objects. Finally, he will feel the shock wave about ten seconds later, followed immediately by the sound. This will be quite loud and alarming. The cloud of dust will rise above the detonation site by four to six hundred yards. This dust is not expected to disturb Victory, as the prevailing wind direction is currently out of the west.”
“Okay, Dream. Let’s do it. I want to see the detonation and Marco at the same time. Can you do that?”
“Yes.”
Ramius had been looking at an image of Marco sitting at the table. Now, there were two pictures side by side; the new picture showed the landscape of hills and forest located to the northeast of the village.
“Okay, ready.”
“I will initiate a five-second countdown. If you say ‘stop’ within that period, I will abort the detonation.”
“I understand. Go ahead.”
Ramius felt nervous, excited, guilty, fearful, and a little confused all at once. His nerves were at their limit, and his heart raced.
“Five, four, three, two, one …” Ramius saw the bright flash, which temporarily whited out the picture on the right. But then, he could see Marco looking startled. The drinking cups on the table toppled over, and Marco and his entire family stood up. As his family members turned toward the flash, which had now died down, Ramius could see a cloud of smoke starting to rise and expand. Then, the shock wave hit them, along with the deafening roar. Marco’s wife and one of his children fell to the ground, and they all held their arms up against the wind, which was filled with grit and dust. It stung their faces and immediately caused their eyes to shut tightly, but not soon enough to prevent the entry of some irritating dust.
Ramius watched, horrified as the cloud rose ominously in the distance. Now regaining his sight, Marco simply stared at the debacle in sheer terror.
“Is everyone okay?” cried out Ramius.
“I detect no casualties.”
A third picture now appeared on screen. It showed the citizens of Victory flowing out of buildings and running in all directions. Many stood paralyzed, just watching the mighty cloud in the distance.
“Marco will have some explaining to do. He will probably make up some story about a natural disaster.”
“Ramius, it is time for Saginaw to return to the UV. The charge will be critically low by the time it arrives.”
“Okay. Go. I have seen enough. Good job, Dream. Thank you.” Ramius laughed out loud, partly from satisfaction and partly from relief that the episode was over and no one had been injured.
There are so many of these grenades. Why did they need them? Ramius wondered. It must have been a dangerous time.
“Dream, I think Marco will have his hands full tonight.
Try to call him tomorrow morning. If he answers, ask him whether I can speak to him. Then, contact me.”
“Understood.”
Ramius left the shelter and went to enjoy a wonderful meal with his neighbors.
Lobo was brought out on his stretcher and propped up so that he could also enjoy the fresh air on a mild summer evening. Ramius realized that over the distant mountains, they were dealing with complete confusion and chaos.
He was content, but he wondered, Am I a bad person?
Still, that night, he slept restfully. Ana was happy that he was able to get through a whole night without feeling restless. They woke up together when RJ ran in, jumped into their bed, and started making demands. Later, the tweet came, and Ramius apologized to RJ.
“We will finish this later, son.”
Inside the shelter, Dream updated Ramius: “Marco is ready to talk.”
“Okay. Let’s have it.”
“Marco?”
“Yes. I’m here.” He sounded terse and monotone, as was to be expected.
“Did I disappoint you?”
Marco was silent. After a few moments, he asked, “What do you want?”
“Nothing. Just stay away. If a few people leave Victory, so what? It’s their choice. It’s not worth dying for. I will not hesitate to defend myself. Just leave us alone. If I see any soldiers in my territory, I will blow you out of your cave. That’s all.”
“Someday, you might wish Victory was your friend.”
“Victory is my friend. But apparently, you are not my friend, and that was always your choice. I did nothing to provoke you.”
“Okay, Ramius. Believe what you want. Starting now, you are on your own forever! This is goodbye!”
“Thank you, Marco. I appreciate that. Do you want me to collect the headset?”
“Uh, yes. Please collect it.”
“Okay. Just leave it in some bushes where it won’t be seen. I will have it picked up. Don’t try anything funny. I will be able to see you.”
“Right.”
Marco was infuriated, but he maintained his composure. He was also a little shaky and exhausted from the all-night council meeting, where he’d had to lead a constructive conversation about what had happened. He had not shared the truth with anyone, and he’d found it exhausting pretending not to know anything.
And that was it—the beginning of a long segregation between the nations. People did slowly leak out of Victory, but not enough to trigger any sort of escalation, partly because many were considered undesirables and were actually encouraged or even forced to go to Eden. Marco thought that by offloading all of these bad people on Eden, he could poison it. But as it happened, Eden seemed to bring out the best in everyone. Moreover, sending all newcomers to start as farmers as a path to citizenship made everyone a hard worker and a real contributor. Eden grew and flourished.
After only three years, Ramius declared the first annual summer festival, kicking off the warm season. He fashioned the whole tradition around Victory and its customs, including the sports contests. He formed a council that was similar to Victory’s, except that he established a higher supreme position that he called the Chair, which he assumed. Succession was at the discretion of the Chair only. Many felt this to be problematic, but this was the place that Ramius had built, and no one questioned him openly.
The running culture became essential as a security measure, as it was in Victory. This allowed for rapid communication, and border control could be maintained at great distances and using relatively few soldiers. Finally, Ramius declared that the running test from Victory would also be maintained; the elderly or disabled who were unable to meet the minimum capability were at their end point in life.
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