Communications Up!
Alchibah A+3
Andrew Stuart
I went over Windmill Hill to the west side where the Communications Bunker was. Stopping well outside the perimeter I adjusted my Mil-Spec wrist comp to the frequency I knew Tim was waiting on. “Tim, it’s Andy. Allee Allee Oxen Free. The cats in the cradle and the cow is in the moon.”
Hearing the agreed upon code Tim started shutting down the defenses, secure that I did not have a gun to my head. After a few minutes Tim opened the door, “Man, the way we got hit I never thought I would see you again.”
I gave him that graveyard stare, “Tim, we won the one we had planned for. These damn Aliens weren’t in the play book. I saw the the old L-3 Windmill Tower was still up, ready to get back on the air?”
“Crap,” Tim exclaimed, “how could we get cables to it and what do we do for Antennas and Power Amps?”
“The cables are already in place and the replacement active components are stored in secret compartments here. Our paranoid Buddy here planned for everything but those damn Aliens.” The voice of Subbu Akai filled the room. “Tim, why don’t you make sure the Lab is ready to take the feed?”
“Sure,” Tim replied, “I’ll be back in about 10!”
As Tim left Subbu turned to me, “Joe and I saw that scene at Hanna’s or the hole in the ground that used to be Hanna’s. Andy are you OK?”
“Subbu, I was 7.62 nanoseconds from loading Mariana and the kids and all the supplies I could grab on a MK V and seeing just how close I could get to light speed the hell away from here. Hell I was hallucinating, I was having a conversation with my Grandpa.”
“Oh really,” Subbu grinned, “and what did he have to say?”
Andy gave him that sick grin, “Get off your dead rear end, find the bad Guys and kick their rear ends. What we are going to do is replace the master Repeater and put up an omni link for deep space. Mayflower is hiding in the Belt. No way we want to give away her location by using a tight beam up. She will tight beam back to us. I would like to have this up before Ash, Summer and Jan come into orbital range.
“Once I get back up to the House, I will throw up the repeater already installed there. That should cover the town and the Caves. We can tie them together through the buried landlines.”
Subbu grinned, “If you are dumb enough to climb that ice covered piece of crap, I am dumb enough to ground dog you.”
We had just finished getting the gear together when Tim came back in, “Any more useless errands you two need done so you can talk?”
Subbu shouldered the pulleys and ropes and grinned, “Nope, we are good. Be ready to power this crap up!”