Title

 

 

 

 

Revelation of Time

The Circle of Life

 

 

Jakob Waechter

 

Disclaimer

This book is a work of fiction. names, characters, businesses, organizations, products, places events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

 

Table of Contents

1. Russia

2. Europe

3. The Mountain of Knowledge

4. USA

5. China calls

6. Surprise

7. Hong Kong

8. Los Angeles

9. Business

10. Trap

11. The Architect

12. A new space race

13. Pacific

14. Peru

15. Mexico

16. The Test

17. Morocco

18. Iran

19. Turkmenistan

20. Escalation

21. Raid over Pakistan

 

1 Russia

It was a dark night near the Georgian border. Lieutenant Victor Kuznetsov and his squad mate Sergeant Igor Larionov lay covered near a small rock in the high grass field.

“OK, send the spider in wired mode to the rock there,” commanded Victor in low voice. A tiny spider appeared out of a cigarette-box sized container leaving a spider web like cable behind its trail. While the spider was crawling to the top view of the rock, Victor was scanning the area with his rifle ocular. He did not need to look directly through it. The data were digital passed through over touch contact with the rifle and the nano suite into his tactical transparent helm display. By zooming in on some targets a more accurate target information was stored in the suite system. After that, he viewed a tactical top view map and marked the area for artillery strike.

“Seems the nearest of them is about two kilometer away,” Victor whispered. “Spider is in position I have my scans done we can sync data now.” Victor touched the shoulder of Igor's nano suite. Three seconds later he had a 'Sync complete' confirmation on its helm display. “Sending drone now five minutes to strike.” Victor informed.

Four kilometer away a octocopter started, covered by the terrain from the enemy.

“Incoming patrol three to four minutes away covered by the rock. I got them on the spider,” Igor alerted.

“Affirmative switch to wired intercom,” was the reply. They connected a small cable from their waist with some touch fastener on the end.

“That's only two should be no problem. You cover the left side of the rock and I the right side. I think we can wait 30 seconds into the artillery strike then there should be no one to detect us firing and get the spider back just to be sure,” Victor ordered.

“Affirmative,” was the answer. “They got two different night vision goggles seems no standard equipment but one is for sure infrared. Now we will see if our stealth system work that close.” It took about two minutes to get the spider back to it's case.

Not exactly as expected the heads of the patrol appeared on top of the car sized rock.

“Just don't move as long they look into our direction. Once they look away you target slowly the left I take the right,” Victor noted.

The patrol seems looking directly at them but not acting as they would see any unusual. The timer on both helm displays of the hidden recon squad showed only 30 seconds. The patrol guys turned a bit and went on looking around. As soon as they went five meter further they were targeted again.

The timer went zero. About seven kilometer away a laser from a octocopter was sent into the skies. Five seconds later the patrol is being radioed they crouched and scanned the area. On the small hill site where the rest of the troops were fortified some ran down others back over the hill top. 25 seconds later the first were falling. It seems nobody came further than 500 meter. Smoke and dust was all around of them. The tactical helm display showed that the scanners were down. Victor waited six seconds. “On zero put them out 3, 2, 1, 0.” They fired two bursts with their silencer guns.

“Now back to base.” Victor crawled a bit back then turned and crawled 10 minutes away, after that they run lowered for 10 minutes.

“This should be it back to normal operation, stealth off.” Victor informed Igor then radioed, “This is Lt. Kuznetsov test phase one done going back to base position.”

“This is Command test phase one is over. All teams prepare for phase two.”

The patrol guys and the others on the hill stood up and walked back to their encampment.

Igor opened up his visor.

They marched back to the woods where the base point was located and two other squad members guarded the octocopter start point. While being still in the high grass before the woods, suddenly the noise tracker alerted them. Following the tactical display adviser they looked up in the air. Something with gaining wind noise was flying over them. They followed the tracker information but could see nothing except some stars flicker shortly black. The tracker marked something with speed of 250-300 km/h. As soon as it came as soon it was gone.

“What was that?” Igor asked.

“Presumably a spy plane.” Victor zoomed with is rifle scope into the direction where the noise tracker lost the signal. “Command this is Lt. Kuznetsov we got heard some air contact can you confirm?”

“Negative we have more reports of hearing something but could not confirm flight path. We think radio communication is not secure in this case!”

“We think it went east. I think the octocopter could be in encampment in 15 minutes. Should we proceed with mission?” after a short pause the base command replied. “That should be enough. But hurry we want to be finished with the maneuver till dawn.”

“Affirmative,” Victor replied.

Both started to run to the octocopter base. Before they reached the woods they saw the octocopter intercepting them. As it hovered in reach of Victor he grabbed it with his left hand. The rotors turned off and the data link was established. Victor moved his right hand in the air just to give commands with his finger to transfer the data of his mission record. While the transfer occurred he entered the fly to base command for the octocopter. He checked how much of the record was transferred as it reached the last 20 minutes he stopped the transfer and the octocopter flew at max speed to its programmed destination. Nine minutes later the octocopter reached the command center. The data were transferred and the search pattern for the starting recon and interception planes was adapted.

As Victor and Igor reached the base the octocopter was already back. “Great idea to send us the octocopter. That saved about 4 minutes,” Victor honored Mikail, the combat engineer.

“Thanks, did the helm system detect them?” Mikail asked.

“Only flight path and speed, but seems no visual no IR. You can check the data in coming test phase. In the first hour won't happen much. Protocol demands a backup so we do it now.” Victor connected his torso high speed connector to the combat laptop. It took only two minutes then the transfer was finished. Now they prepared for their next phase of their equipment test.

“Igor and I will be covered in the woods near the field where the delta team supposed to engage. This time we take the sniper rifles. Dimitri and Mikail relocate our base in the forest back here.” Victor pointed on a place on the digital paper map. “We use the wired connection again. Remember it is very easy cut. So take care if you can. Last time I cut it by just turning in crawling position. Radio only if really needed with limited range to the needed receiver. They have the same tech now and they will use it. OK, let's go.”

It took about one hour to get all in place. Also they had to reload the suits energy. Victor informed the base that their team is prepared for next round. He got the reply that the other team needed 20 minutes after that time they activated their stealth mode again. Dimitri and Mikail also had the suits but in normal terrain colored camouflage not that more sophisticated the sniper in the filed use.

Team delta arrived with an APC. The vehicle was good visible through the helm display using the spider cams which they placed around the woods, also to cover their flanks. The team exiting the APC was hard to detect.

“I counted eight. Two snipers six assaults,” Igor noted.

“Agreed.” Victor was looking at his tactical map display. Only by zooming in he could count the icons on the helm display to verify the digital capture is working.

As the delta team sneaked forward it vanished into the high grass.

“This will take a while till they are here.” Victor activated the tactical map display on his helm again. As the time went on two circles gained its size around the last position of each delta team member which was showing the possible position by crawling and sneaking.

As soon as the outer circle reached the forest he started the octocopter with a pre programed flight path. Victor switched off the tactical map display. Still on top of his view was a timer showing when the drone will use active scan.

As the timer counted 20 seconds he could see a moving virtual mark of the drone on his left side. It counted down to 12 seconds then 7 seconds. A position mark was flashing up near the drone showing radio triangulation which the helm computed. He zoomed in with his sniper rifle scope to verify.

“I'm on it,” came from Igor. Five seconds, Victor saw some motion but could not exactly determine its origin. He zoomed back thinking ordering the active scan now would give them the position of the broadcast station. Three seconds, one shot on his right, this could be Igor. Two seconds the drone vanished from his display at the same time there was a marked position in the opposite forest. It was separated to the one where he was located by a small road for agricultural vehicle to his left. He targeted and zoomed in as fast as he could but nothing to see for a clear shot. Whatever it was it made it behind the higher grown vegetation at the edge of the forest. The drone went on doing it's programed flight path and scans, but nothing was transmitted. Also for those who detected it with some sensor it was marked automatically as destroyed. Later on in the debriefing it could be determined how effective the scan would have been.

Next sensor alert. This time on the right some motion detection. Victor searched again for the new target. Two of the assault guys were running for the cover of the woods.

“I think I can get the first one.” Victor zoomed a bit in.

“I'm not ready still changing position,” Igor replied.

Boom. The first one was falling the deltas display showing him 'Deadly hit'.

Victor changed his position, too, to avoid any shot that could come at his exposed location. Boom his display showed a target in the field. A sniper crouching on his knees.

“I cannot target the sniper he is on me have to evade!” Victor rolled fast further to the side to get behind some stocked up earth cluster.

The sniper seems to follow him. Muzzle fire again then the sound of the shot and another shot this time from a different location.

“Got him,” Igor replied and changed his exposed location again.

Still rolling Victor reached the cover immediately turning to the right to search for the one who made it into the woods.

Damn he thought some how he cut his cable, the link to the others was lost. The rest of his team also got the connection lost to Victor message.

Another alert on Igor's display the second assault guy is firing at him with a silenced rifle, but missed. Boom.

Igor rolled further into his cover. “Can you update me I have lost sight.”

“Seems Victor got that assault guy which was shooting at you,” came the reply from Mikail which was observing with the spider cam.

Next alert went on, two more are coming at their position but still between forest and field. Igor was in a bad position. The cover was not good enough to engage two. He looked at the position where Victor should be and maybe found him. He signaled him that he is going to fallback position and the update of the two alerts with the directed IR diode and also got a confirm as reply.

Holding up his sniper rifle and searching for the two guys without zoom the motion software detected them and highlighted it on Victors helm display. They where soon in the woods to soon to target one. Also with his one hand holding up the rifle he was not in a got position to target precisely as it should be. He fired a shot. Both of them fallen down to the ground to get cover. They were still on sight of one spider camera, but only for the connected ones. Victor crawled and sneaked to his fallback location. Both Igor and Victor reached their location at about the same time, now searching for the two deltas in the woods. In the same time two deltas made it into the forest and vanished from the track of the spider sensors.

The next alert came on the left, two assaults were flanking them coming from the other forest near the location where the octocopter base was located.

“We are going after them. If they seem to see us use the repeater on the copter base to broadcast the enemy location this may also disturb them. I also programmed an automatic sensor broadcast if all get disconnected which means in this case you,” Mikail informed Igor.

“OK, but don't get to close to us its hard to tell the difference between you and the others,” Igor advised.

“Affirmative.” Mikail and Dimitri disconnect and started to run for interception.

Victor searched for the two enemies he knew of, but nothing.

It took some time as abruptly his noise senors alerted him of something behind him. He knew he was good covered and hard to see. Any fast move would expose him. Another motion in front of him. The helm display does not alert him. This was only movement in the vegetation but close enough to see it's not the wind. There was not much wind in the woods. A crack another noise this time in front of him where he saw the movement and he got an alert now. While the other movement behind him continued he focused on the forward event. Now he saw a rifle an arm and a head he got a clear target in front of him. But firing would expose him. Still he could wait. He thought if the second delta turns his back on him it would be enough time to get both. The other problem was that this delta behind him could not be one of the front ones. Which meant there could be more around him. Two of them must be seen crossing the woods by a sensor. And the last sniper is with them or on the other side most likely. The front side would make no sense for the sniper. So he decided to wait as long as he could maybe someone else of his team is opening fire in better circumstances. He waited while the noise tracker showed him, the one behind him is moving from left to right. Which meant most of his back is aligned to him. Now or never he thought. Victor knocked out the front delta with a precise head shoot then rolling to the left and targeting the one behind him as fast as he could. The delta was also fast turning into his direction but the fast movement which meant turning and crouching highlighted him on Victor's display precisely. Instead Victor's body was already turned the only thing he had to move fast was his sniper rifle.

The delta had only hand, a bit of an arm and a peace of the gun highlighted but he knew he had no more time, he started to fire.

While seeing the muzzle fire Victor targeted the chest and fired this time two shots trying to hit chest and heart and rolled more away to the left. As he turned the gun fire stopped for some seconds and started again in front of him where he was looking now. 'Deadly hit' showing on his display while he saw the muzzle fire of his opponent kneeing on a tree as cover.

Mikail fired his rifle and the delta on the tree was out. He decided to sneak back and not further investigate the surroundings.

“Anything?” he asked as he reached Dimitri's cover where he left him.

“No. It was hard enough detecting you sneaking back here. As you took the same way back I could tell its you, but I bet Victor would have shot if you sneaked on him. Better we sneak back to base,” Dimitri suggested.

“Sure, I had luck that the delta did not hear me because of the shooting.” Mikail started his way back and Dimitri followed, as his teammate reached the next cover location.

Igor checked his tactical display where the sniper entered the forest on the right while the fire fight was on. As he guessed one or two of the assault could be still near him. Changing position was a risk. He was more focused on the snipers last position. This meant the assault could be crawling beside or behind him. He knew from a spider camera Victor took two out and got be knocked out, too. It also meant the assault had much more room to sneak around. After a while Igor thought the sniper went deeper into the forest. But where are the others. Going back was not an option now. He checked some of the cameras.

Boom. The sniper firing near the base it would take a lot of time sneaking to him. But also this meant losing connection and he was the last one with a connection. An alert message showed up 'Mikail connected'.

“Igor I got back to the base the sniper is around I don't know at whom he shoot at. The state of Dimitri is unknown. He was in cover while I was sneaking to base. I also knocked out one assault.”

“Good then there is only one assault left. That one we have to find then I can sneak back. Victor knocked out two before he got knocked out,” Igor updated Mikail.

“I was near the one shooting at Victor but only detected him through his firing. By now the last assault could be crawled around you we have not much cameras in that area between you and me,” Mikail informed.

“OK, I look around and sneak back so I will lose connection soon.”

“No problem I can update you now if needed.”

Igor slowly looked around then turned a bit he saw nothing. Still in some cover he got up in sneaking position. He started his way back.

Soon the connection to him was lost.

The tactical display showed Mikail that the sniper could have crawled to his position.

Still in cover Dimitri's noise tracker turned on. It was only a crack and to far away to hear normal steps. He scanned the area as good as he could by not getting into snipers sight. This was a bit difficult crouched behind a two feet higher earth hill, with a tree covering his upper body. He could lay down but then it would be difficult to target. Dimitri used the gun scope to target which saves his head to be exposed. Here in the forest there was much less light if any. The stars are not visible only some parts have little light which meant normal light amplification is nearly useless. Thanks to the sideways motion the slow movement of the delta's sneak was fast enough to let the target be highlighted. He zoomed in and aligned for the shots. His gun was set to burst mode which he triggered. Three simulated shots flown into the direction of his enemy. The delta went down. Dimitri display showed him that his shots had a low hit possibility. As his enemy did not move for a second the highlight started to fade away. Well he thought he had to shoot again. He pulled the trigger again, at the same time the highlight showed up again. The enemy was rolling to evade but in his flat position he could not see all of him. As result he had another low hit possibility. Dimitri radioed the enemy position then tried to crawl a bit away. After six meter of crawling he checked with the rifle again but no motion was highlighted. As he reached the end of this earth elevation he had a good spot to oversee the area between the base and where he last seen the delta. Cautiously he brought the rifle in position. Even if he could see him he would be to far away to hit someone flat on the ground. Suddenly the light went on. Two of the OLED they installed in front of the base exposed the last assault. It was not much light and with normal eyes it would not helped much because of the distance. But with the helm he had a clear view now.

The delta had moved about 50 meter of his last position but was more far away as before. The first shot of him disabled the first light he rolled to the side and got into crouching position.

Dimitri got up on the top of his earth cover to get in a steady targeting position with his head a bit exposed. With another shot the last light went off. One burst shot went off enlightening the surrounding which showed him that the target was on another evade roll. He fired the second burst with an adapted destination. Muzzle fire in Dimitri's direction time to get down he thought.

Boom … 'Deadly hit' on Dimitri's display he was out.

Mikail received a radio triangulation of the snipers position and a noise track. As fast as he could he activated the sensor broadcast thinking that the assault got now his location radioed. He jumped out of his pit to get behind the base. Then he crawled away to a near cover.

At the same time the delta ran into position to fire the grenade with his launcher on his rifle. The targeting was very easy. On his display was shown the simulated trajectory of the grenade. So he needed only to adjust while in realtime the corrected calculation was displayed. As the projected line met its marked destination he fired.

By looking back Mikail saw the simulated explosion then the broadcast of the spiders around the base where dead. He had the last position of both deltas but that did not help him much. It was dark he could see to the place where the base was, maybe he thought. His right was covered by earth and a tree which meant the sniper can't see him but sneak around him. The only useful detection he had was noise and that is in many cases not good enough to react to something in time.

Boom echoed through the woods. On his display a position was shown he switched to tactical map. This was outside of the sniper and assault sneaking range. This must be Igor shooting at one. Mikail activated his digital data transmission system he contacted the disconnected spiders and set them to broadcast. He viewed the encrypted data logs and then transferred the needed video logs. After six minutes he got the confirm that the last assault was out. Now the tactical map showed him the sniper was in sneaking range. He turned off his transmission and crawled to a cover left of the base. Then waited for the sniper hopefully to appear in the aiming direction.

Igor arrived on his sniping position from his movement on the right of the base to have the sensors between him and the other sniper.

Suddenly a flash and an explosion appeared. He saw it the tracker marked it. A spider broadcast went down. Nice try Igor thought, the delta must have covered his shot with a flash bang grenade, but he must have a silencer else it wont work he estimated. Taking out all sensors would not be possible that much grenade a sniper could not carry. It was also very unusual to have them. They would be nearly useless against the helm system which would just filter down the flash and the noise. He checked the tactical map again. The spider was the one behind the base. This means he may sneak around and try to find Mikail. If the sniper could get behind him a flash may easy expose him. Igor stood up and sneaked away to intercept.

Mikail looked around one hour was gone after the flash, the sniper could be everywhere by now. The spider near to him was a bit useless it would cover a bit of his rear but unlikely the sniper would come into its range.

On the top of his display was the tactical map shown. The area it ranged was 2×2 kilometer which meant it covert one kilometer to each side with him in the center. A flash and then a bang went off to his right. The exact location was shown 600 meter away from him. Mikail crawled forward, got up and tried to run for the base pit not far away from him. Cracks from branches on the ground echoed through the woods. Still no shooting but at least the sniper should have his track. He jumped into the cover of the pit. Silence again. Now a flash bang grenade won't expose him but the sniper will know for sure were he was. With the rifle he checked all sides for something. Mikail pulled his weapon back it would be noise which would alert him he thought.

And 17 minutes later the noise came but it was no cracking or rustle it was white noise from multiple direction. His noise tracker could do nothing about it. The rifle went up again to find his foe. It took a bit of time and suddenly something was falling on his back. Mikail turned around he saw a flash accompanied with his bang of a pistol. He jumped to the other side of the pit trying to get his rifle to the target. Another shot went off, his enemy was jumping into the pit. Bang a louder noise went off and a pistol shot, too. There was no time to get the rifle aligned. Mikail let the rifle go and pushed the pistol hand away.

“It over,” came from the enemy sniper. “I'm dead.”

“So we have to wait your last shot hit my left arm it seems.” Was the answer from Mikail.

Five minutes later Igor arrived.

“Well that should be all I thought.” Igor also jumped into the pit aiming on the sniper.

“He is out and I'm hit on the left arm,” Mikail informed.

“OK, then I treat the arm first before I get the last noise scrambler. After that our mission should end I think.” Igor opened the medical kit and started to tend the simulated wound.

“If we miss counted it won't end,” Mikail reminded.

It took not much time to find the last of the scramblers. He turned it off and went back.

“This is command phase two has ended meet at extraction point,” came through the communication link.

Igor met up with Mikail and the delta sniper and they went back to the octocopter base which was the extraction point. Two APC's arrived there to get the 12 men back to the base. Splitting up in groups of six they drove back to the base encampment.

Victor took his helm off. “Finally only debrief now then I'm off on vacation. Where you going to Dimitri?”

“Well two weeks Sochi. One week doing nothing just enjoying the sun the other some sport things maybe.”

“Nice, I have three weeks sight seeing over Europe maybe this new dome thing, too,” Victor replied.

Mikail closed his laptop. “I wonder when they start to build such a thing in Russia.”

“I heard they will build them all over the world and China is already building one, too,” Victor added.

“A lot of Russians had invested in the first dome. Even some military admirals. I wonder if they order us from Europe then?” Igor mentioned.

“Then at least the other countries know what our orders are,” Mikail replied smiling.

“Yea a new way of working together that's what the European always wanted. By the way with their new combined military research program do they have a secret test zone like Area 51 or they rent some part of it from the Americans?” came from Victor.

“Well it would be so secret that they don't even know where it is or else we would know it,” Mikail suggested.

“At least this plane sounded not like European,” Igor meant.

Victor looked at the two deltas. “Did you hear it, too?”

“Yes I heard something but without equipment you could also say it was the wind. But I was also in the tent focusing on the mission map,” answered Alexej.

Sergej looked up. “Well I was outdoor. It sounded a bit strange other than usual wind and I could follow it from left to right but not tell where it was I saw nothing.”

Mikail opened his laptop again. “I had a bit time to check the records. From what I can tell it was between 10-50 meter long. That's an estimate from the flickering of some stars. I can calculate it more precisely but this will take some time. By the end we should have a value that may miss by the factor of 2. The shape is still unknown we should have at least some edges but I don't know why we haven't them right now.”

“Mikail and I will check it with the Commander then we know when debrief is,” Victor replied.

The APC reached the base. As they exited the personal carrier vehicle the base personal awaited them to copy the records for further analysis. It took not much time and the rest of the team went to their tents and two of them to the commander.

“Lieutenant Victor Kuznetsov and Junior Lieutenant Mikail Bobrik reporting.” Victor introduced formal.

“At ease Lieutenant's. The data we have now will be analyzed. We will debrief the unsuspected encounter and the testing in two hours. Mikail after you changed you can help with analysis,” the Commander said.

“Affirmative,” Mikail replied.

“Sir, did we intercept the encounter?” Victor asked.

“Sorry we have no successful confirm of that. The data will be sent to FSB headquarter for further analysis. They will also have the sensor logs of the recon and interception planes. If there is more to say we will have it in the debrief. Well done. You are dismissed.”

Both saluted and went to their tent.

Two hours later the whole team met with the commander and some of the analysis personal in the debriefing tent.

“Welcome Spetsnaz. We are here to debrief our test with the new stealth equipment but first we talk about this unusual encounter. Most of the important analysis results we archived with the help of our squad mate Junior Lieutenant Bobrik. Lieutenant Bobrik you got the word.”

Mikail stood up and walked to the front desk.

“At 21:54 we had the first sensor detection with our overwatch station on the hill followed up by Victor and Igor and finally Dimitri and me. The only data we got is noise and some flickering of the stars in the video. Also we got some data from the spectrometer in the helm that shows that there was something blocking the background radiation of the night sky. We also know it flow about 250-350 kilometer per hour at a height of about 100-150 meter. With that data and the star blinking we could calculate a size of about 12-27 meter for that object. It flew a straight flight path of 90 degree on all recorded points. Important is that we have nearly 100 blinking stars. So I think with the assumption of a straight flight path we can even calculate the shape of the object. But at the end it will be still unknown what it was exactly and who sent it until we find some more evidence in satellite records. And another thing is strange even the newer MiG's couldn't detect it with their advanced sensors and an intensive search pattern. If the object would have flown higher we even wouldn't heard them. This suggests that they want us to hear them at least.” The presentation video of the records was still lopping on the projection screen. Mikail stepped a bit back for questions.

“Well they can not fly forever they must land or refuel somewhere?” Victor asked.

“We already checking nearby carriers and airbases with our satellites and viewing the records we have but this will take a lot of time since the size does not specify the range of it,” the Commander answered.

“I would suggest that Bobrik should help the FSB with the analysis I think it is still a GRU matter at least the detection part,” Victor suggested.

“That's true. Junior Lieutenant Bobrik after debrief you will transfer the data to FSB headquarter and assist with the analysis for one week,” the Commander ordered.

“Affirmative,” Mikail replied.

“So I think if there are no more questions we go on with the stealth test debrief,” the Commander suggested.

Mikail got back to his seat. There were no more questions.

“The analysis of test phase one is short. We think we need to improve our sensor station most of it the software. It seems this will result in another test. For now it seems to be possible to sneak on a fortified high ground position at night. But personally I would not recommend this. Further the infrared emission was adapted well enough that no one could be distinguished from the environment. Any comment? … Good then we go to test phase two. The octocopter did detect all with the active scan and with the passive cameras all assaults and even a sniper moving to fast.” The commander showed the octocopter records and pointed out the section where the sniper moved with the sensor highlight and without.

“Also the star light is enough to see the shape of a running man that was clear. Crawling on low grass would not help neither.” The video showed the part where the deltas tried to enter the wood. “The decision was right to run for the woods in this case.”

The video switched to a tactical map with all members on it. Team delta was marked as red and Victor's team blue.

“Tactical without sight the sniper defending the forest can not hold the needed distance to the enemy. And as we can see here even the shape of an assault can vanish in the darkness of the woods.” The video showed a spider camera losing the sight of an assault soldier.

“Losing connection in a critical situation can be fatal as we can see here. A coordinated defend would have changed the outcome for Victor. I think we need some reconnection mechanism which I will discuss with our equipment providers. The terrain adoption worked also well enough.” The video showed the delta assault sneaking through the woods where the display was highlighting the terrain.

“Sir, it's good enough not to stumble in most cases. But stepping on branches which will crack and expose me can not be prevented,” Alexej interrupted.

“Thanks that would be a nice feature I see into that,” the Commander took a note on his e-paper. “Further the noise generator's worked well. Also the body detection in combination with weak light and flash light. I think we are through are there any comments?”

“Sir, you talked about improvement's of our equipment that can be made after the test. Is there any chance we get better IR sensors or an improved spectrometer, maybe one that can cover a more detailed area in our sight?” Mikail asked.

“You mean to identify our unknown object. That would be difficult to argue. For now I can show them only the records of our testing not the encounter.”

“Well you can argue maybe it's possible to see a moving stealth suite because of some heat fluctuations that can't be adapted fast enough. Also on stronger wind some turbulence in combination with heat may be visible,” Mikail added.

The commander wrote something down. “OK. Noted. I will see into that but I think you will also analyze with the FSB team for better detection methods. This means when you are back from the FSB trip then we will talk again about improvements of the sensors.”

“It's most unlikely that we encounter that thing again?” Victor asked.

“Sure it is. But if we find it's base or it will be detected again by an improved sensor array. We are the one who will be contacted for a possible investigation or capture mission,” the Commander replied. “Anything more? … Good then you are dismissed.”

“Mikail report to me when you are ready to fly. I give you the papers you will need to enter the FSB headquarter,” the Commander told Mikail while they all left the tent.

“Affirmative.” Mikail saluted and went out of the tent.

It took not long to get all his stuff and then Mikail went to the commanders tent. Then he entered. “Reporting for duty, sir.” The commander was preparing his documents.

“In 10 minutes a helicopter will take you to the nearest airbase. Then you will fly supersonic to Moscow. Captain Kovalevsky will meat up with you. He will fly the plane and drive you then to your destination.”

The commander gave Mikail the documents.

“And don't forget the data stick. You are dismissed and enjoy the flight,” the Commander grinned. Mikail saluted and left the tent to get the data.

The helicopter was coming in for landing. Captain Andrej Kovalevsky was waiting near the landing pad. Mikail was coming out of the tent where he got the data stick. He ran to meet up with Kovalevsky while the helicopter touched down. Kovalevsky was also a Spetsnaz member but of the not many jet pilot's. There was not much need of jet pilots in the team. Most of the pilot's are flying helicopter or transport planes where he was also qualified but not specialized.

“Hi, Kovalevsky I hope you are not sleepy as I am?” Mikail asked.

“No I just watched some of the test phase this morning. I had a good sleep while you crawled through the woods.”

“Good so I have time to sleep a bit and don't worry of not waking up again.” Mikail entered the helicopter with Kovalevsky.

“Don't worry it will be a smooth flight but much sleep you won't get. Flight time is less than 40 minutes. So maybe you want some sight seeing in top down flight?” Kovalevsky asked.

“Well how long will it take till my head splashes?” Mikail asked back.

“We will see,” Kovalevsky smiled.

After a short flight they arrived at the air base. A Sergeant met them on the landing pad and drove them in a jeep to hanger where the MiG 35 were prepared for them. The jet plane was equipped with two fuel pod's one on the left and the other on the right. They changed their suits for the flight and stored their stuff in a small package pod which was a standard drop pod for troop field supply. Then the pod where attached to the mid weapon hardpoint which vanished into the plane. Mikail entered his seat while Kovalevsky was doing this pre flight checks. It took not long and they were on the runway and then in the air heading for Moscow. Kovalevsky rolled the plane. “I told you the best sight you got top down didn't I?”

Then they went supersonic and the engine noise silenced to a more enjoyable level.

“Yes, nice view,” Mikail answered.

“Just tell me when it is enough,” Kovalevsky informed.

They flew it for a while then Mikail decided to sleep a bit.

Captain Kovalevsky confirmed his fast approach with the flight control Moscow. Since all worked digital he had not much to speak. The air traffic controller had his complete flight path on his display and could alter it if needed.

Mikail woke up as they left supersonic. Is was a sunny bright morning with less clouds. The view of Moscow was perfect.

“Do we fly over Moscow?” Mikail asked.

“No, we are cleared for Domodedovo Airport our car is already parked at the hangar. We are landing in less than two minutes this is a computer assisted fast approach,” Kovalevsky informed.

In his helm display were projected circles he had to follow through.

Now he had to dive hard. He rolled the plane top down and gone into vertical nosedive. The terrain was coming fast closer. He rolled the plane to be aligned with the runway which was indicated on his helm display. The throttle was reduced to lowest. Then the circles showed him to pull up. He pulled and the plane got back into horizontal flight at 50 meter height over the ground. Kovalevsky pulled the nose up further to reduce speed. Then as he reached the advised speed he extended his flaps and gears and altered the throttle for landing. The runway was in sight the descend was inline with the approach pattern. He was on 10 meter as the runway stretched out under the plane. It touched down and rolled to the advised hanger.

As they reached the hangar, they saw a black SUV parked near the hanger. A Sergeant awaiting them and gave them the keys. There luggage was bought to the SUV where they changed clothes. After signing the needed documents they went on to the street.

“This fast approach I never heard of it. Is these a standard procedure?” Mikail asked.

“Well this is a new procedure which came up from some drone testing. So they adapted it to the avionic on all newer planes,” Kovalevsky answered.

“And this was your first time?” Mikail wondered

“Sure,” Kovalevsky laughed. “No just kidding it's the second try. To be qualified for this you have to make 50 simulated landings and then a real one.”

As they reached the lobby of FSB headquarter they showed their paper's to the reception desk officer. It took a while till someone came along.

“Captain Kovalevsky, Junior Lieutenant Bobrik welcome to FSB. Captain Kovalevsky here are your document I signed the transfer of Junior Lieutenant Bobrik this completes your mission.” The man in a FSB standard suite was black haired and very formal not telling to much. Kovalevsky took the papers saluted and left.

“Jr. Lt. Bobrik I informed an analysis team. They will meet you up stairs. Follow me to meet them.”

Bobrik followed the man to a room stuffed with computers and a huge display on the wall. It was like a smaller classroom for up to eight people to work with. A tall man about two meter entered the room. He had brown hair, brown eyes and a strong looking face. Also he was wearing the standard suite.

“Hello, I'm Captain Yazov. I'm in charge of the investigation we are conducting. For the start we have three analysts to assist. So just show us what you have first.” The man and two others which came along sat down on the chairs. Another one showed Mikail how to use the front desk terminal.

Mikail started his speech. He showed the records and his assumptions and how he want to get more out of the stored content. All this took the whole day he was in the HQ. But it was recognizable that Mikail would need a longer rest.

“I think you have done enough for today the other can take over till tomorrow,” Captain Yazov started to end the session. “Further data we need from the recon planes will be also here tomorrow morning. I will also get some more analysts to assist. But now I show you your quarters and your ID card should be also here by now.” They went out of the room. While the other analysts continued the work they started.

 

 

2 Europe

Jean Dubois was seating on the balcony of the Einstein hotel. It was the fifth floor, high enough to oversee the half of the Purity Dome and some of it's adjacent domes. Opposite was seating Maria Kaemper a young blond blue eyed reporter from WNN Europe division.

“Dr. Dubois how did it come to build such a gigantic dome?” she asked.

“Well as you can see it started all with my passive houses where the latest version is all over this place. The concept was to build a living room which fully support all needs of it's inhabitant. This means energy, heat, food and water. All should be available by no or not much extra expenses. The latest version here is suited for the dome system and infrastructure. Where the dome is only the next step to improve efficiency and stabilize climate better. Also it does what the house alone could not do. So it serves better air quality, water control and pre planed modern infrastructure for the people living beneath it.”

“Infrastructure, water control for that you don't need a dome. So what does the dome exactly?”

“In short its a habitat. The dome can get water out of the air that's included in the climate control. But the dome is more, in summer it generates energy out of the heat. The temperature is then between 18 and 25 degree Celsius depending how much energy we want to sell or heat to store for the night. In winter we will have between 10 and 18 degree Celsius temperature so we need not much to generate heat. Most heat is then generated through heat exchange with the earth. But also we get a lot of oxygen from the agricultural part. This oxygen we burn to generate heat, water and electricity. So much of our system is to transfer electricity and heat. Sure the dome has other useful benefits like the closed ecosystem. This makes it a bit independent from outside resources, like water and air. Which means we have the circle of life reconstructed in a smaller area like about 50 square kilometer.”

“With a diameter of about three kilometer of the main dome. Why does this structure not crushing under its weight?”

“Well, one part of it is the shape which supporting this. The other are advances in material science. This structure is calculated to withstand earthquakes of category nine even that it's very unlikely here in Austria.”

“So why Austria for the first dome?”

“Well because of the better tax conditions here.” Jean smiled. “But also for the central European location, the support of the government and the people in this location.”

“A lot of people who lived here before are now living under this dome how do they like it?”

“Well you should ask them by yourself. They all had the option to relocate for a good price or live here in the dome. Since most of the people in the area already relocated to the cities, there where not many left. Some decided to move other stayed. But I think you find no one here who is unhappy with his decision.”

“Is this because of the cheaper living here?”

“We looked at the example of Masdar City and what did they wrong. So this place here needed a lot of advantages against other established villages or cities. Less maintenance, good healthcare, affordable food and water, good infrastructure, shopping malls, restaurants, recreation areas are few of the important points. The dome climate must be at enjoyable level. The air has to be clean. Also important is a nearby highway and airport for the business. Even train may be needed at some point.”

“This means you can do it better than the other countries and companies before?”

“Well, it's very hard to change established systems. So first you need a big area to start from new. Since our research facilities are working for three years with good success, we were encouraged to continue it. So under this pre defined structure now we have an advantage that will work. Look at the other countries they are building domes, too”

“So they do it under your license or their own?”

“There were over 100 million spent just for planing this. So I did it not alone. A lot of engineers, scientist worked hard to make this possible. There were a lot of difficulties to get it right, the costs had to be affordable, the maintenance had to be minimal. It should also stay over 100 years or even a lot more. So in the long run each country will have it's own structures similar to this but adapted to their needs.”

“This means?”

“Bigger like China. Less features like Germany and France.”

“What means less features?”

“France and Germany skipped the water circulation system. This saves a lot of costs and building time. Which means their agricultural water does flow into groundwater. But this means they won't have the option of a full outage habitat. They focused more on the methane production which they can use all over Europe and get heat, electrical energy and water back if needed.”

“But the cost of it must be enormous like 100 of billions if not a trillion. How people can afford it here?”

“Like in Germany and France the people could afford it and it is sold out already. Here in Austria it was a bit more difficult, but most of it was because it's the first dome. Due to the tax here we found a lot of international investors which payed a lot for the idea and some share of the profit.”

“This means profit from what?”

“This installation is not only just for living we also will have business here. Only two of the outer domes are used for our own food production the others will be to export high quality food. Additionally we grow vegetables in germ-free high density buildings like the Japanese developed in 2013. I forgot the word, ah, vertical farming it is called. There will also be overproduction which will be exported. But surly the most profit comes from our already running research facilities. We have robotics, biological and medicine departments here so we develop a lot of technologies which will be used and or licensed. More to that on our visit tomorrow.”

“Is it true that people don't have to pay for food here?”

“Not exactly but yes. Every house owner owns an area for food production which can support up to seven maybe eight people. That's the two of the outer domes for and one level of our vegetables germ-free production. So everything he does not need will be sold and he get's the money.”

“Does this mean no one has to work here any more because he has no costs for living and even get money?”

“Well no and maybe.” Dubois smiled. “See it as that. We know there is not enough work for everyone on this planet except research. But for research you need also someone who pays it else it's your free time business. We know too, as technology advanced in robotics, more and more of our production jobs were not needed any more. Also the agricultural machinery helped to reduce the amount of people needed and robotics did it even further and will be. Which also means that our food production will not give much money or cost much. And we know while some countries have robotic tax others will follow. Still this problem is not solved and politics did not find the right answer to the source problem. The overpopulation. We have countries where the land and or systems doesn't support the amount of people living there. Here in the western countries we have other problems like people moving into the cities where work is but in reality the cities do not support the amount of people. But here we have a fixed limit that will work without a problem because of our planed infrastructure. So by having most important things like food, water, heat, living room, electricity we have the more or less freedom to do what we want. But it does not mean we don't do import things. Which means for closes, cars, entertainment, travel everyone here has to earn money even for some of the less maintenance stuff he may. For example a lot of people in the agriculture work a maximum of three hours a day. There is just no more to do there. But they all have a second job. Most of them in our research facilities to help to improve our agricultural robotics or even research things like asteroid mining. In the end you have much freedom to do what you want to. But completely without work it won't even work here except you can live from your saved money. It's very likely that through further advances in robotics there will be only less possibilities like research and art left to do. But jobs like policeman, teacher, farmer, engineers, craftsman will still exist.”

“Can you tell me how the technical principle of these domes work?”

“The overall concept yes. First we use computer only to monitor and for statistics like efficiency but may later use the computer control for efficiency improvement. We store electric energy from our high efficient holographic photovoltaic cells, which would also work on rainy days, with double-layer capacitor short ultra caps and to some expand lithium bases batteries. We have also some hydrogen tanks to store hydrogen from our waste water as well some methane tanks which will also be generated in our electrolysis process. We transfer heat to a point where we can generate electrical energy from it or store heat as needed. Also we can transfer heat from earth or generate heat with electrical energy or even from combustion from hydrogen, methane, but first of our waste incinerator. Which means methane can be exported most of the time. The waste incinerator filters the carbon dioxide out so we can use it again for agriculture. To fully recycle waste water and waste incinerator of pollutants we use our own patents and some others. So carbon dioxide is mainly used to generate oxygen in the agricultural domes and grow the plants. The oxygen will be sent to the main dome. What is to much will be used in the waste recycling plant either to burn the waste or generate water and also electrical energy and heat again. Drinking water comes from ground water pumps because of the needed minerals right now. Agricultural water comes from cleaned rain water and will be reused in our cycle system. So it does not matter much if we use drinking water or rain water. We have not much losses here so it could also be the water out of the air. We could also use the recycled waste water if needed. But since we use the groundwater for drinking some of the cleaned waste water goes back to the groundwater. If we want to use the waste water we have to get the mineral back after hydrogen oxygen burn or else the minerals in our fields would decline and we would have no drinking water. And since we have the facility to clean rain water we also send it to the groundwater. Therefore we use computer controlled systems. That's the main concept. The other part is the economical which I already mentioned.”

“Are here any plans for further domes?”

“Sure. I'm in this business now. But it's not fixed on domes. We also may do bigger structures or higher people density structures in pyramidal form. Do more animal supporting habitats. This all can be done about 3-5 years from now when we have enough data from this project. Also New Masdar City is in planing this may be start in the coming year.”

“Thank you for your time we will continue as planed tomorrow with the research facilities.” Marie Kaemper and Jean Dubois stood up and shook hands. The reporter and camera man packed their stuff. Jean invited them for dinner in the roof terrace of the Einstein hotel.

 

Marcel Serrault and Markus Reiser were flying in an Eurofighter approaching Greenland. Marcel was the pilot sitting in the front, behind him was the weapons test engineer Markus with his fingers typing on the keyboard installed at the back of Marcel's seat.

“OK, targeting system is now active we can now do a flyby,” Markus informed.

“Roger that, we reach navigation point in three minutes. Altering height to 3000 feet over the terrain.” Marcel replied. The plane reached the land zone and approached a place where in the flat white terrain three older retired version of the Leopard 2 tank stood. Further above them was a support plane, which was also a refuel plane. It had also sensors to monitor the target area and the test plane.

“Targeting works fine, LIDAR operational, identification is correct. Are you ready?” Markus asked.

“Yep targeting works I arm weapons now,” Marcel replied.

“Confirm railgun is armed,” Markus informed.

The plane turned around for a new approach.

“Target looked firing at two miles distance.” Marcel checked the information and weapon status display. He looked back to his HUD. A circle showed him the area where the gun could adapt to the locked target. A constant beep signaled him the gun is ready to fire at the acquired target. He checked his target display which was showing the locked target. Markus had also set his display to show him the target but additionally he could see the probability where the bullets would go to. They reached the defined firing range for the first shot.

“Firing!” Marcel pulled the trigger and a two second burst of bullets were flying against the target. It looked a bit like flashing light. The bullets were sheathed with magnesium which is used in flares. As soon the projectiles left its barrel tray it starts to ignite through the high friction of the air. Some parts of the tank exploded seconds later the plane flew over turning for it's next run.

“Sensors say everything is OK. We can continue with the next tank.” Markus checked the hull sensors and started sending the data to a nearby refuel plane where additionally engineers were stationed to analyze the data.

The plane left Greenland to get more distance for a supersonic approach and enough time for the engineers to check the data.

“This is control you are cleared for supersonic approach,” came from the support plane.

“Confirm approaching target with mach two,” Marcel replied and turned the plane slowly then the afterburner ignited.

As they reached mach two they had 8 nautical miles to the target.

“Lock confirmed.” Markus checked the distance. Six miles at four they had to fire. The hit probability circle was shrinking but still showing that they would miss a lot.

Marcel checked the range. Five miles to the target. The targeting system was still informing him with a pulsed beeping that the gun was adjusting or the probability is to bad. Four point two miles a continuous beep informed the pilot that the gun is ready to fire. He checked the range again. Four point zero.

“Firing gun,” Marcel informed while pulling the trigger. A burst of bullets was sent out again. The second tank exploded. Marcel turned the plane softly avoiding going into high G which would make it impossible for Markus to use the keyboard.

The afterburner went off and they prepared for the last attack run on the third tank.

“OK, last one now. I activate all guns now.” Markus typed some commands into his keyboard. Then Marcel saw on his weapon information screen that the additional two railguns on the left and right inner wing hardpoint are activated and synced now. Marcel turned the jet plane softly again as they reached the needed distance.

“I'm accelerating to mach one point five now. Final approach has started,” Marcel informed.

“Confirm, proceed with mission,” the engineer in the refuel plane radioed back.

Again at the eight miles distance Marcel could lock the target. On the four point seven miles distance he had not reached the calculated range for high hit probability. His finger pulled the trigger. Three guns fired a two second burst and the last tank exploded.

“Mission accomplished, returning to refuel,” Marcel informed the refuel plane. The afterburner went off.

Marcus checked his data log and tried to count the number of hits in the slow motion of his record. They reached the refuel plane. Marcel engaged the auto refuel system and let the computer handle the refueling procedure.

“I think the test is a full success from what I can tell.” Marcus clipped the keyboard back to enjoy the rest of the flight.

“We will see it tomorrow when all the data has been analyzed. Now its time for dinner.” Marcel checked his fuel level which was at maximum. The computer was disengaging and following the refuel plane at secure distance.

“Command we are leaving, have a nice day,” Marcel informed.

“Roger that, you are cleared to go enjoy the flight. See you tomorrow,” the engineer at the refuel plane answered.

“Next stop refuel plane near Ireland.” Marcel pushed the throttle to full thrust the afterburner went on.

“I think running out of fuel in the air is the thing what most pilots don't want. I hope you don't forget this,” Markus joked.

“Right I try to check the fuel level but maybe we have to swim.” Marcel laughed and activated the autopilot.

“Do we have enough fuel to fly all the way with afterburner?” Markus asked.

“No, but at the height we flying now we should be able to fly mach two without afterburner at least the specification of the new engines say that.” Marcel checked the speed, mach two point three.

“I programmed the autopilot to fly as fast as possible so we burn out what we can for now, it will automatically adjust the speed if needed.” He checked the speed again. “Mach two point five his is maximum for this revision of the Eurofighter 2.”

“There are not much planes that can fly faster maybe no one that is in service right now.” Markus checked the fuel burn rate.

“The SR-71 could fly mach three and the SU-25 mach two point eight. The friction at that speed stresses the hull extremely so newer stealth planes can't do that. So with less stealth we also could be faster,” Marcel replied.

“Yes but the SR-72 can fly mach six or even a bit more. Then stealth is not the issue if you can't be shot down at that speed,” Markus noted.

“Yes but at that speed you are limited to recon I don't know if you can fire a missile and even the railgun would be useless.”

“That's mostly true. There would be only laser then but that's still a bit away I think. The railgun has only the accuracy problem for such use.” Markus checked the hull temperature everything was normal.

The afterburner went off. He checked the fuel burn rate.

“Now our burn rate is much better.” The speed slowed down to mach two point one.

“That's nice better than the spec's maybe some wind support, too. I recalculate our range I don't thrust computers.” Markus used the keyboard again for the calculation. “Seems to be alright no bugs.”

“Well, this time we do refuel manual it's to boring doing nothing. Landing will be automatic again so you have to thrust one more time,” Marcel laughed.

“Great I know the guy who developed this,” Markus moaned.

The rest was a pleasant flight and they landed at about five o'clock on an airfield near Toulouse where the European Military Development Center was located. The plane rolled into the hanger and after change they left the base and each one of them drove home for dinner.

 

Marie Kaemper followed Jean Dubois through the biological research facility to meet Prof. Dr. Wieseman a medic specialized in bacteria and virus research.

“Here in this research facility we are developing alternatives to antibiotics, researching in genetics and new diagnostic methods,” Jean told Maria before they met Dr. Wieseman in his office.

“Ms. Kaemper this is our specialist in Bacteriophage Prof. Dr. med. Wieseman,” Jean introduced.

“Nice to meet you Prof. Dr. Wieseman.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Kaemper, but use just Ralf, it's a bit shorter.”

The 60 year gray haired man shook the hand of both.

“So Ralf, Bacteriophage never heard of it what is that?”

“Bacteriophage is a special sort of viruses which eat bacteria and die when no of the bacterias which they eat are left.”

“Seems very useful is these a new developed virus?”

“Actually no, it natural already found in 1917 by Felix d' Herelle and two years before I think by Frederich Twort. There was a dispute which of them discovered it.”

“So this is forgotten discovery?”

“No, but in our western countries antibiotics have been established. While the eastern countries further used it after World War 2.”

“So the antibiotics were better?”

“Maybe better to handle but as we see it now with antibiotic resistance which some bacteria developed this phage are maybe useful again.”

“Why not for sure? Is there a problem?”

“Yes, while the eastern counties just used it there are less scientific research papers in western standard about it. This changed a bit over the last years. But it takes a lot of effort to develop a medication which uses one phage or even worst more types of phages.”

“So to tend bacterial infections you need more than one type of phage?”

“It's most of the time more than one bacteria involved so therefore you need to specify them. Which means if the phages don't match for the bacterias involved they just die and do nothing. And the other problem is the phage can not be patented so there is not much interest by the pharmaceutic companies.”

“So where do you get the money for the research?”

“Only with government founding so it's a slow development.”

“So there will be no products?”

“Certification would be to expensive for now. Since we have stored a lot of phages from the earlier days before the leading Georgian Institute was partly shut down. We make now a digital catalog of them also genetic analysis and how they work against a bacteria and against which one. Also we develop a robotic production of them. So you only have to laser scan the involved bacterias. Then push the production button and some time later you got your medicine. That's the theory and we have already a big archive.”

“And practical?”

“You have to search if a certified phage is available or certify promising ones by ourselves. So this will take a half century till we have a nice collection where we can select from.”

“So I have to let amputate my leg if they cannot defeat antibiotic resistant infection?”

“In extreme cases it can be done now but only if all other treatments failed. But more important the doctor needs to know that he can treat you with phages. And where he can get them.”

“It seems our medical system has severe problems to handle all possibilities.” Maria noted.

“Well at some point it relies on the education and further education later. But also on lobby of pharmaceutic firms and cost reductions in health care.” Dr. Wieseman replied.

“But the education part can be fixed?”

“Sure if the phages get a better reputation. The problem is that education will act very slowly to the new stuff on the marked. I don't know how this can be improved because there needs to be some major successes to change things how we do it.” Dr Wieseman noted.

“So thank you for your time Ralf.”

“Have a nice day Ms. Kaemper.”

They shook hands and went out.

“Since genetics are most computer analysis and we have no highlight to show I think we go to the robotics research facility,” Jean proposed.

“But just what you do research exactly in genetics?”

“Well, you see over there the restricted area. In there are two sections. One is the automatic genome scan. There we analyze the genomes from blood, viruses, bacteria, plants or other samples we get. We can analyze up to 5000 samples a day and store the data in our archive. The number is based on human samples. Others may go faster. The storage and computation part is located in the robotics facility. So we search in the archive for interesting markers that are not discovered yet. The other part here is the viral disease research were we search for new methods to defeat all kind of viruses. From simple flue to deadly ones. We could also treat high infectious patients here but that's is only optional.”

“Do you make gene manipulation?”

“No we just identify sequences that's what most labs around the world do. Others may research how to activate some gens but that will be done with animals. Breeding manipulated DNA that's for others to do. But they may use some of our discoveries. Also some gen therapeutics we may do at some point.”

They entered the lift. Maria, Jean and the camera man Mike.

“We will now drive with an electric cap to the robotics facility.” Jean pushed a button on his cell phone app. The lift opened in the first sub level. The streets where cars allowed to drive were all underground. As they exited the building the cap came along. There was no driver. Jean entered the driver seat while Maria was using the co-driver seat and Mike entered in the back. The cap was a usual SUV sized vehicle. Jean gave via voice command the destination to the car system. After confirm it stared to drive them to the not to far away sub level of the robotics facility. The two research facilities where between the main doom and two agricultural domes. Which gave them a distance of approximately two kilometer. The building was place in a large area which was the left space between the domes circular structures. The place had also a transparent roof adjusted to the surrounding structures and also was a closed environment. As there were eight agricultural domes were three of them were finished. A nice garden of green grass and some bushes and colorful flowers was connecting the domes and here in the middle of this was the robotics facility places. They took the outer lift to the seventh floor where they could oversee the whole garden to the opposite biological research facility. Then they entered another office. A brown haired man with some gray was awaiting them. He was around the 50ty's.

“Ms. Kaemper I introduce you to Dr. Peter Russell leader of the whole robotics facility.” Jean introduced and they shook hands.

“Welcome to our facility Ms. Kaemper.”

“Thank you. I'm eager to find out what's here in development.”

“I think we have some interesting stuff to show best we go down in the testing labs.” Peter took the lead.

“While here in the upper floor our office and computation center is located, our testing labs are placed at the ground within the first floor. Mainly to easy get them out to our agricultural areas in the outer domes,” Peter explained.

They took the same lift down to the ground level.

“Our space robotics test lab is in the sub level you will see why when we get there at the end of our tour. Here are the normal corn harvesting robotic vehicle we use here. They are all fully electric have improved sensors. And are similar to the harvesters used today but a bit smaller because of our limited area and the lesser needed storage capability. Also we have here multiple arm harvester for apple trees, strawberry and potato fields. They can analyze the object they want to grab, identify it, determine maturity and grab it without damaging it. Since there is no harvest season now we cannot demonstrate it.” They entered a bid smaller hall but also two floors high.

“Here we have humanoid robotics where we build the most complicated versions which should in the end behave like humans in a more perfect way. That one which is juggling five apples is called Apollo. Apollo throw an apple to me.”

The robot looked at Russel and threw an apple to him while continued juggling. It did not changed the pattern much and was a smooth motion within the juggling.

“Thank you Apollo.”

“No problem, sir,” the robot answered.

“Apollo can I throw the apple back.”

“I'm ready to receive the apple, sir,” the robot informed.

Russel threw the apple back. The flight path of the other apples changed. They flew higher now and the pattern changed a bit. The robot took one step forward and seemingly just integrated the catching in his juggling motion and continued with five apples again.

“As you seen the robot adapted to my little miss of him and caught the apple regardless. His speaking has a bit military touch since some of the engineers and scientists came from a military facility.”

“Very impressive how far is this one compared to the others we seen in the development?” Maria asked.

“The other worked already one season with minor flaws. So they are nearly done. This one can pick apples from a tree where he can reach. He can't use a ladder at this point. He can just grab things without damaging it. His job wont be picking apples. We have other robots for that. So he is in early stage. And he wont be done when he can do one job. He has a design to make him flexible as we are. So he may drive a car. Sort potato's, deliver packages, serve dinner, even repair electronics or even help in construction of the dome. The simple first job maybe done in one year. But things like repairing electronics will take more than 10 years I think.”

“So this design won't change much just the software?” Maria guessed.

“You seen the hands are very capable. It is always possible that we change hardware for better versions. But you are right the main focus is software here since the hardware seems good enough.”

They went to a smaller lift on the side they saw two other version's of Apollo one sorting stuff and another one balancing on one foot while holding a glass of water. They exited the lift in a sub level.

They must be in the second or even third sub level. Maria watched the lift level display which did not tell the level number as the door opened. A large water pool was in front off them. Also opposite to them was a large cinematic screen which was showing the inside of the pool. The camera must be below them. To the left was a beach with different types of sand, stones and rocks.

“Here is an asteroid mining test lab. We test here different types of robots. If one of them succeeds all our tests he may go to further testing in mountains and sea then finally we may send it to the moon. In the water we simulate a low gravity environment. So we test the anchoring, the harvesting of raw materials which are in stone and sand which also means splitting up the elements and sorting them. Additionally we test the movement in this environment as far as we can here. First outside the pool then inside.”

“This two robots we see are not very big how can they harvest enough that it's worth the effort?” Maria asked.

“Well we are sorting out the stuff we want. At start we are searching for rare earth elements. Later we will add platinum, gold or even iron to the list. If the harvester is working even the size can be altered if needed. But most likely we use just more of them. So first it's cheaper to get them in space. Because also the drills may need replacement we are developing a space factory which can build the replacement parts or even build the whole robot.”

“This one reminds me on the tunnel drilling machine we already have in bigger size,” Maria mentioned.

“Yes indeed but as you said this machine is a robot which operates without direct human interaction. So we had to alter the parts where human where involved and had to adapt for the non gravity environment to get everything into the middle where it is transported into the storage pod. Here we do not sorting at the moment but a longer version might sort thing out.”

“How do you prevent that the harvester is not damaging the building wall?”

“We are not doing much of the stone drilling here. Most of the time we test with sand. But rocks here have a maximum length on each size of two meters. Then there is always a two meter sand protection line behind it. With our sensors we know the location of the robot to one millimeter. So there wont be any problem that it would drill to far.”

“You said further tests will be done in the sea. So you can also use the robots to get resources out of our oceans?”

“That's not our interest others already do that.”

“Then whats about Mars after Moon?”

“The moon is also only for testing and both cases to lift of the raw materials would cost a lot more energy than on an asteroid.”

One of the personal came along. “Dr. Russel we are now ready for the test. In one minutes we can start drilling.”

“OK, Klaus give us a nice demonstration,” Russel ordered. Klaus went away speaking command into his head set.

“We are now seeing how our crawler is trying to drill without his weight. A crane will lift him only with the force that counters his weight. Then five harpoons will shoot into the rock. A drill will prepare the hole for the crawler. When that is done the drill will depart from the crawler and he will try to do what he is designed for digging while transporting the crushed rocks into his storage pod.”

As Russell was finished with his notes the drill was already at work.

“You see we made not one big drill instead we drill more times to weaken the area enough then the crawler can enter into the ground. Once he is deep enough he has the support of the surrounding, which means he doesn’t need the harpoons anchor any more.”

The drill was done and the system was leaving the crawlers front.

“Some harpoons must be shoot more far away so that is enough space for the drill to leave,” Russel added.

The crawler started his work and was digging into the rock. It took not long and the nearly crawled in robot stopped and came the half way back out.

“This is the end of the test he successfully dug into the rock. We will check all sensor data and the storage pod content. The next step will be a test focus on the storage pod where we have to exchange the filled pod with an empty.”

The crawler were lifted fully out and set down beside the hole. The harpoon cables where caped. The engineers started to take care of the crawler.

“So if you sort out the rare earth elements what do you do with the rest?” Maria asked.

“The plan for now is to bring asteroids into Moon or Mars orbit. So the not needed materials and the rest of the asteroid will be crash dumped on the surface. The iron for example can be used to build installations on the Moon and Mars. But Mars can also profit from the increase in it's mass if we can build up an ecosystem for space mining. So the Moon will only be for testing.”

They walked around a bit and were already near a big service elevator at the end of testing terrain. They entered through a lock and went for the lift.

“Now I have two questions so you are also researching how to relocate asteroids and what does that mean Mars can profit from mass increase.” Maria had to ask.

“Good questions. We are researching in propulsion systems because we also need that for our space robots but that is not our main effort. There are a lot of other firms which are on it now so it's more likely we cooperate with them. It depends what is more easy to archive. Bring an asteroid to Mars or break down the rocks and deliver that to Mars. But we favor the asteroid delivery to Mars. To the second question. Since we don't have artificial gravity it would make sense to add more mass to Mars. It will also improve the ability to hold a denser atmosphere which increases the protection against the gamma radiation from the sun which increases the ability to sustain life like earth. That's on the long run better than stay 3-6 month in a habitat on Mars for a very limited number of people. Which is already done on the Moon.” The lift brought them up to the ground level.

“So our tour is finished if you have any more questions just ask.”

“When are your robots ready for space?” Maria asked.

“In two years they should be ready. The plan is to start our first mining on the Moon in one year. After that we may more focus on asteroid grabbing.”

“Thank you for your time Dr. Russel. I'm looking forward to the Moon harvest.” They shook hands.

“It was nice to meet you. Enjoy the rest of the day.” Dr. Russel went to the lift for his office.

Jean was leading Maria and Mike out to the garden of the facility.

“I know from our investigation a lot of your research business is payed from military funds. The European and the US are the common ones but Russia does that give you not a conflict with politics?” Maria asked Jean.

“You have forgotten China as well. You know my carrier started with the European military organization. So I had some connection to people with enough resources and interest to start the dome project. Since this is not military there is no problem. But as we do some military sensor stuff we always have to check the European policy to the specific country and the product we want to sell. But also some of this military grade sensors are used in the dome system to measure temperature, scan water and air components or even in our drones that search for parasites.”

“So you are not concerned about the technology Russia and China gets?”

“Should I? We do international business we get payed for our stuff. And about our property we have to protect it by ourselves, too, even from spies that operate here in the Austria, not only from reverse engineering. So China is for sure very interested in the dome system because of their pollution problem. If they are satisfied with their first dome they will build a lot more. Sooner or later all countries will do that because of the energy efficiency. The civilian technologies are sure cheaper to buy than to spy. On the military side it is also cheaper to buy except the EU stops the order. Then there is the problem of SVR, MSS actions.”

“So thank you for your time it was an interesting insight into the Purity Dome.”

“You are welcome. Enjoy the rest of your stay.”

They shook hand and Mike stopped filming.

“So you are finished here do you know your next assignment?” Jean asked.

“An atomic waste storage disaster the compound is leaking so all stored barrels have to be evacuated. At least they can do that but bigger amount of the waste has already gone into the ground water,” Maria told.

“They should have shot all into space and dumped it on a planet where it does not bother us. But always the costs that can be avoided by cheaper solutions that to do not work and then cost us all a lot more. It seems nobody sees or count the hidden expenses. So the next generation will have the fun with done.”

“So you don't want more advertisement?”

“No, from now one this should be a no brainer. I could have said more but as everything is already sold out. This will continue with the next generation of domes.”

“Do you think you change our world with this?”

“No, it may a bit change the perception in living with nature. But also the electric car did not solve China's pollution problem. This will also only dampen it a bit. You must consider the time which would it take to have habitats for everyone. So domes like this one are more for the upper class. Then there will be other with higher population density where it is not such a nice place as here. Eventually only time can tell where it leads us.”

“That all countries now baled out of building atomic power plants does not save our environment?”

“No, it's a good start. But we still have the waste that lasts for nearly forever. And they only baled out because there it a cheaper solution for energy now. Which means we have other stuff where there is no cheaper solution, still pollute our environment. China will still use their thorium plants till end of life. But that's of the lesser problems. Then we have the fusion power plants with no or minor radioactive waste. But we have a massive increase in production and that is not done without also different types of toxic waste. So we have one problem solved and more to come.”

“So why? We can recycle nearly everything?”

“Nearly. That's one problem. The other the cheaper production which make a product not as recycle able as it could be. And also the big production numbers make the little flaws to bigger ones.”

“I should have included this in my interview.”

“Why everybody knows this already for sure. The principle of capitalism counters the need of being nature friendly.”

“But your dome with the good air and water quality will show people that something has to change.”

“Yes we will build a lot of domes because of that and when more living there less and less will care less about the outside any more. So it can get even worst.”

“You are not very optimistic.”

“I just said that technology alone is not the solution. You need the peoples mind and the politics to enforce the change to a better way of life or it will just get worse because it can be. The good thing is we have the technologies now. We only need to come to the right decisions to make it sustained. By the way if you need help getting a house under a dome just call me.”

“That's nice, thank you, but for now as reporter my traveling will not give me much use of it.”

“When do you leave?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“Well then I can invite you both to dinner to continue our philosophic discussion.”

“OK, that's nice.”

“Five o'clock. The Italian Garden.”

“We will be there then.”

 

Toulouse European Military Development Center. The conference was already running. Markus was speaking.

“I don't want to belittle our achievements. The railgun test is a big success which we can be proud of. But be realistic for it's limited usage. For ground target's we have better weapons with more range. So the only advantage is the price of one shot. That's nearly nothing compared to a missile and counter measures are not existent because of an unguided and faster projectile. Also I can say it is a very good improvement of the previous gun's used in the planes and will be a better last resort weapon if it comes to close encounters. The next big step will be the test's for our air to air ammunition and targeting software. After that we have a new weapon system with remarkable specifications on our product line. Thank for listening.”

After the applause Markus stepped down from the desk some people of his workgroup congratulated him. The chef of his department stood on the desk now.

“We have come very far with our railgun project this year and I'm looking forward that we can successfully finish it by the end of this year. So thank you all for your good work and keep going.”

The conference was over. They left the conference hall which was build for a much bigger audience than they were. But the big screen of this hall gave the 32k test records an amazing view. Markus met up with Marcel.

“Hey Markus I heard you are on holiday next week.”

“Yes old Jean invited me to show of the Purity Dome.”

“Nice, he will be interested what you archived with his project.”

“Well I guess he already knows. He still has a good connection to this facility.”

“Well then enjoy the trip.”

“Yes thanks, see ya.” Markus went to his office to get his stuff.

 

Georgy Alexeyev was an admiral of the Russian Air Force. The part that covert the south west border of the empire. He was young for an admiral in his late 40. Victor and his girl friend Tamara met up with him in the Italian Garden.

“Victor nice to meet you.” Georgy shook Victors hand.

“You don't know my girlfriend yet. This is Tamara,” Victor replied.

“Tamara nice to meet you I hope you enjoyed it here.” Georgy hugged Tamara.

“It is an amazing place here. The air is so fresh so different to Moscow all is so green and clean. I never enjoyed something like this.”

Tamara was looking like a kid discovering a whole new world.

A woman with two children was joining them on the table.

“It's the best place to raise children. Clean air, clean water healthy food, international school,” the woman said.

“This is my wife Yulia and my kids Natalia and Yury.” They shook hands while a waitress came along for the drink orders.

“So how is your old man doing Victor,” Georgy asked.

“Fine he is already retired and still lives in his villa in Moscow,” Victor informed.

“That's fine. Well I not only invited you to enjoy this place. There is someone I want you to introduce to. The Russian military may have some business proposal for him this afternoon. So while we dinner with him your girlfriend may enjoy the time with my wife.” Georgy suggested who also knew there was not really a no to his offer.

Victor wondered what the business here in Europe would be. But he hadn't seen Georgy for about eight years and really didn't know of his business now at least as an admiral. After fixation the time and the place they changed the discussion to the more common stuff ordered the food and enjoyed the day. Georgy showed them around the center of the dome were all important places were located.

 

Markus and his wife Monika were near the center of the dome. A huge conical structure was in the middle reaching to the top of the dome. At the bottom a mesh was protection the inside of the structure from entering. A strong wind was blowing. Jean was with them showing the area.

“This is our biggest vent system. It also cools the air at the top and supports the dome structure simultaneously which makes it much stronger against outer stress. It is funny that this runs with technology where patent already run out.”

“There seems to be a lot very old technologies where even the patents ran out,” Markus asked.

“Not all but we use stuff even from half a century ago and longer it's more like no one combined it to such a thing.”

“Well I am impressed.”

“I hope you are more impressed about the job opportunity I have.”

“What kind of job? I'm still in a project.”

“Well we come to that later this evening.”

“So it's a confidential stuff?”

“Yes, we will dinner with the client's family.”

“Oh familiar confidential.”

“No the family lives here in the dome. So your wife is also invited. We talk about the project after the dinner. I also have a job opportunity for your wife but about that we talk tomorrow.”

“I'm looking forward to it. So what's the next stop of our tour?” Monika replied.

“Research lab if you like.”

“Sure.” Markus replied. Then they went on to the research labs.

 

After dinner the men went for the confidential discussion. They used a smaller conference room in the Einstein hotel. Jean stood up and took the word.

“So we are here because of our Russian friends recorded something and want our help in the investigation.” Jean started the video and they saw three times the camera movement around the night sky. The tracking information were not there because they were stored on an extra file. So it was only a high resolution video with some blinking stars.”

“Victor you were witness of this incident tell us more what happen.” Jean sat down. And gave a laser pointer to Victor. He started the video again this time in slow motion.

“We were just on a military night maneuver where we encountered this.” Victor pointed at the area were the stars vanished.

“As I said we were on a night maneuver, we were all equipped with infrared and light amplification systems. But we saw no infrared and the amplification helped to see the stars better but not that object. So you may be guessing we are very upset about his situation.” Victor sat down.

Jean took the word again, “So since our research facility has sensory department Georgy asked me if we could assist in developing a passive tracking system for such situations. This is where Markus come in with his engineering experience. So he could lead the project.”

Markus looked at the video which was near the end.

“This is all you have? Did you not calculate distance and speed?” he asked.

Georgy took the word as Victor was instructed to not give to much information away. “We calculated a speed of 300 kilometer per hour and an altitude of 120 meter over ground.”

Markus was thinking everyone could see that.

“So you are still telling not everything. I know this is maybe a bit difficult in political way and I don't know if I am allowed to talk openly because of my military contract. But at that speed and height you must heard something. And as I can tell from the first camera movement you had a tracking system which followed the object.”

“Well that's true you seem very competent for this job sorry that I am testing. Also this triangular structure like a flying wing has been become very common in military planes,” Georgy excused.

“There may be many planes fit here in. You sure calculated the size. So you should know which flying wing plane fit to this. But I have not heard about a plane which has no infrared at that distance. Well it also depends on the quality of your infrared sensors. I think helm systems are more optimized to detect human heat signatures. So it is possible that here some military specification limited the visibility,” Markus added.

“What about that electrical plane with the size of a B-2 bomber your firm is developing it would fit in nicely,” Georgy asked.

“The solar freighter project that's not even military. That's autonomous freight drone with solar support as you can read in the internet as well. It's just a way for cheap transporting. There may be less radar signature because of it hull structure. But the materials are more for less weight and maintenance so you will see it on radar. And the electric drive system also generates infrared heat that you should clearly see over one kilometer,” Markus countered.

“And whats about the SIGINT version?” Georgy was smiling.

Markus looked at Jean.

“This is the same version trimmed to fly even years without landing. But also it has radar signature. It's just designed for low utilization costs and cheap production. So stealth is to much expensive. It's a very cheap way to monitor certain areas compared to a satellite. And you also should know it's in development not in service.” Jean looked at Georgy.

“Sure, but the Americans have access to the project.”

“You suspect them? Sure they are also in the project and paying some part. But how can they use the data and build a plane faster than this?”

“Well, it has to be them anyone else makes not much sense.” Georgy answered eagerly.

“So you are just dig around or we come to business. What about the missing information. We know you have stealth suits in development and they have noise tracker for sure. So there is not much secrecy needed here. We all know our intelligence services more or less good.” Jean waited for Georgy's reaction.

“Well you know we are both instructed what to tell. Military secrets are kept well. If we include the noise tracker data you know what range they have. So here is a record with a mono noise signal which has been damped a bit. For more I have to consult the Kremlin again.” Georgy gave the data stick to Jean and they viewed the record again this time with sound.

“I think that a start we could work with. Probably we could compare how electric planes sound and compare it to that. But you already have a noise tracker ours wont be much better here. So we focus on electromagnetic detection I think. This sensor or more like sensors when done you can compare to your system you have. But I don't understand why you need us to do it. You have your own military research centers.” Markus waited for the answer.

“You are right. But we don't have that rapid chip developing system of yours. We want the first working sample in three month. So the deal will be to have a production line that can be transferred to Russia within four month,” Georgy declared.

“So if we fail there is no money?” Markus asked.

“No there is no bonus but we still have enough to continue for a while but that must not concern you. You get a team to work with and hire additionally stuff or rent some if needed. So only the question is, do you think you can do it?” Jean responded.

“I have a plan in mind and with that rapid development system you showed me today I think it is possible to get a working prototype out in three month.”

“Good then we have a deal for now. I make the papers ready to sign so all have two day's time to think it all over.

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 29.11.2015
ISBN: 978-3-7396-2544-7

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