VENETIA: John and the Dutchman

Chapter Forty

John became concerned the next day when Jim had still not left his cabin. He had
gone in the night before with Helen. When he noticed that Jim and Helen were gone he
was totally shocked. He had not left. Then he laxed off in his concern. Obviously, he had
taken Helen somewhere. He dropped some of his concern. He asked his Box if it had any
idea where Jim had taken off to. The Box advised John that the communications link with
Idiot was still intact. Idiot was in a sound proof chamber and was unable to receive
commands from Jim, but it was actively running a program of very high priority and could
not accept new instructions. John was able to retrieve from Idiot any information that it
had been exposed to. Thus John found out about Jim being on the Pegasus with Isis.
Idiot advised John that mission success appeared immanent.

John checked with General Armstrong, but was advised that he had been relieved
of command. Antiope was notified that she still had control of the submarine missiles and
that she was indeed still was the heart of the strategic reserve. The crew on board loved
Antiope and morale was extremely high. The market continued to plummet as investors
showed no confidence in the President's lack of leadership. Rumors were widespread that
perhaps there would be no more elections. John became very active and manufactured
more gold bullion for Antiope as she went shopping for more stocks. Antiope was
unconcerned with her apparent paper loss, but was more concerned with keeping up the
public's confidence in the war effort. The continuous daily hounding of the press reminded
the President that she was indeed very unpopular. Even though earth's satellite systems
had been all but destroyed, the existing communication infrastructure recovered with
amazing resilience as alternative communication networks increased in activity.
Conveniently enough, a cheap satellite production and launch facility had just been
opened. Going by the name of Antiope Industries this IPO managed to soar from $5 to
$62 on its very first day of trading. Bill even bought a few million.

Amazon subversive activities continued to prod at the President. John was
frustrated in his attempts to discuss matters with Washington. Hawaii was ready to secede
from the Union as John and Antiope had the unwavering support of the Hawaiian people.
The Pacific fleet was safe under the protective umbrella of the Flying Dutchman. Virginia
and California began legislative processes to follow suit. Military commands sought to be
under the control of the state within which the base was located. The President was faced
with a crisis as the states with military bases threatened to secede and form a military
alliance.

Because of this, John was rather preoccupied with maintaining missile defense
security. Each time it became apparent that he was about to lose a missile center, he
would trigger a launch. Virginia had already lost too many lives in Norfolk and the state
seemed to have a hard nose stance against the Amazons. California was seeing a great
deal of Antiope's billions as she was investing heavily in California industries. Antiope
Industries had provided 10,000 new jobs for California, and they had no desire to see her
disinvest.

Even so John did not have much time. The President had the authority to stand
down each submarine crew as it returned to port. John decided that he had no alternative
but to pay the President an unannounced personal visit and it had to be quick. John
directed that his Box maintain the communications link with Idiot. Idiot was still receiving
and processing signals from the drones through a hyperspace link. Once again, Isis would
be unaware that she was being tracked. John observed the instantaneous velocity and
acceleration of the Pegasus. He noticed that she had stepped up the power somewhat and
apparently was on her way to the black hole.

Still he had time before she would cross the event horizon. Rather than going back
in time independently and try to find her, John decided that he would tag along and keep
her company. She would most undoubtedly be in total shock when she realized that
Pegasus did not take her where expected.

John notified Pearl Harbor command that he was leaving to have a talk with the
President. He asked for a berthing slot at Washington Navy Yard for the Flying
Dutchman. The Navy complied and said that a space was available. John then alerted the
marines on guard that he was leaving immediately and to advise Washington to expect his
immediate arrival.

The marine guards watched in amazement as lightning flashed all around the Flying
Dutchman as a wind stirred up. Local communications were overwhelmed by induced
static and then the Flying Dutchman disappeared. All had heard of the ability but none had
ever witnessed the phenomena. The marines stood dumbfounded and then immediately
reported the disappearance after noticing that communications had been restored.

With an equally spectacular light show the Flying Dutchman appeared on the
Potomac River as she made her way to the Navy Yard. A limousine awaited him as he
docked the boat and placed the Box in a secure stand down condition. A detachment of
marines was ordered to maintain yacht security. The limousine sped away to the White
House as the President waited for John.

As John arrived all eyes followed him as he made his way to the Oval Office. The
President smiled at Jim weakly as she invited him in for a private meeting. No one but the
President and John ever knew what was discussed, but the meeting only lasted fifteen
minutes before John left and made his way back to Pearl Harbor. An agreement had been
reached. The President would not order a submarine stand down and all missiles could
remain on active alert. The president would grant John secret support, but she would still
have to go on record as being willing to be extremely negotiable with Isis. She
understood the probability that Isis may be a little too demanding and negotiations might
prove fruitless, but she at least wanted to go on record for trying. John understood; the
President wanted to play both sides of the fence. He also understood well the conditions
under which she had received these awesome responsibilities, and it was no choice of her
own. General Armstong was also reinstated.

Satisfied, John was taken back to the Dutchman, and he returned to Pearl Harbor.
The marine guard logged that the Flying Dutchman had been gone eighty-three minutes.
John noticed that he had spent most of that time in the limousine going to and from the
White House.

Back in Honolulu John had to make some very tough decisions. He would need
Jim to return and continue on where John left off. Earth was on the brink of chaos and
there was no telling what the Amazons were capable of doing without Jim or John to keep
them in check. Jim was on his way to Cygnus and they were currently accelerating in
time. Idiot advised him that Isis had programmed the Pegasus to arrive on earth with her
on board tomorrow so that she would be able to continue where she left off. Idiot also
advised John that Isis did not provide the necessary password to override Jim's fail-safe
program to take the Pegasus back to 11,000 BC if accelerated beyond the event horizon.
The Pegasus was therefore en route to 11,000 BC John continued with the interrogation
of Idiot and suggested a space-time bounce. He instructed Idiot to transfer Jim and the
correct Helen to his coordinates in space-time when he triggered the signal. In turn, he
would project John and the Box to replace Idiot and crew. Idiot was satisfied that the
transfer could be safely and successfully accomplished and performed the necessary
computations. Idiot apologized that it was going to be a somewhat difficult computation
and the simulations would be a little tricky. Idiot asked for twelve days to come up with
the solution.

"Twelve days," John asked, "I don't have that long. Do I?"

"You've got plenty of time. You forgot who is really flying the Pegasus. It might
just take twelve days to reach Cygnus at the rate I'm driving. This will allow you to
trigger the transfer immediately if you would like. If you wish to wait until tomorrow that
will be all right as well. I shall require thirty minutes to run the bootstrap program
through your Box before I can make the transfer. I need to load your Box with the matrix
inversion information so that energy transfers can follow the proper symmetries. Some of
the routines will not be inverted since I am still coordinating missile defense network.
Once you have taken your Box across the event horizon, I am not sure if I can maintain
any link. You'll be on your own and streaming back in time with the Pegasus. I'm not
certain that the Pegasus would be able to hold up to such a transition. I estimate that there
is only a thirty percent possibility. With your Box on board, the Pegasus will be able to
survive the transition with only minor repair needed. Your Box will be able to absorb
most of the gravitational energy changes that you will be encountering."

"Do you mean I was steering Isis to almost certain death when I told her she could
go back in time by entering the black hole?"

"You didn't steer her wrong when you said it was possible with the Pegasus. It is
possible. If you intend to go then her chances of survival are 99.999%."

"Idiot, I caught you in a lie. You told us that we had a better than 90% chance of
success all along, but now I find that depends on me going back in time."

"What can I say. I knew you were going all along, but just couldn't tell you
because of my anti-paradox program, but now that you have reminded me, I can tell you
that you're correct. I really don't know if I lied or not. You tell me."

"I ought to know better than to argue with you, Idiot. So Isis has you in isolation
so you can't talk, has she?"

"Apparently so."

"I bet its dark, so you can't see."

"Correct."

"I bet you know exactly where every single one of her ships are at this instant."

"That is correct. I am not exactly blind because I can see through the ship's eyes
because of my Pegasus link. I even see Jim every time he is in sight of a ship camera."

"Very well, Idiot. I shall take your advice and think somewhat before I take that
jump back in time."

"Wise move, John. In the meanwhile I shall get started with running the
calculations to make the time jump."

John called for Antiope. "I'm afraid this may be good-bye my dear. It seems that
I must be going. Apparently she has captured Jim, and Genie is in her possession."

"Well, she can't use it can she?"

"I don't believe so. It is fortunate that our two boxes are maintaining an
intersection."

"If you leave, how do I coordinate our defenses, without Genie to keep in touch."

"Jim and Helen will be back at the exact same instant with Genie, but the
intersection will be terminated."

"Meaning?"

"I shall no longer have a communication link and we'll be out of touch
indefinitely."

"I'll miss you, John."

General Armstrong broke in on the chat. "So you're leaving us, and you figure our
chances are fairly good now that Jim has been captured. That doesn't fit in too well with
my line of thinking. What kind of strategy are we to employ while we're waiting for this
fleet?"

"Ask Jim when he comes back. When would be the most advantageous time for
him to make a show?" John's computer reminded him that the twelve days would have to
be earth time. It would be too complicated to try to do the computations elsewhere.

"Well, tomorrow would be great, but I think I can hold out two weeks. Does Jim
have lots of gold? He may need it, if he doesn't want our economy to collapse because
our Wall Street heroes panic endlessly."

"Jim doesn't want your money and is quite upset that your panic free and fearless
free enterprise system is at the mercy of such mercenary cutthroats. He'd just as soon
make an arrangement to use them and your lawmakers as sacrificial victims and work out
a deal with Isis. He admits that Antiope will soon become very wealthy because of the
upcoming support. Do you hear that, Antiope? I may be able to have him back within
two weeks. In the meanwhile, you will need to start identifying and tracking the
Amazons. Don't try to arrest, just keep under observation. Use your vast human
resources to keep an eye on these beautiful creatures. I understand that you may have
several brave young men that can tackle that assignment."

General Armstrong sighed. "I don't know if I'll be able to find any volunteers to try
to keep an eye on these women. Are you implying that I should send a few divisions of
our finest to Fort Lauderdale to stake out the beaches and the yacht clubs? Apparently
that seems to be a central location."

"As you see fit, General. Bear in mind that these women may try to seduce your
soldiers in order to kill them, if they feel threatened, so try to have them get not too
close."

"I'm sure I'll take a few casualties, but this is war. How should I determine whether
these women are Amazon or not?"

"Consider this, general. The ones that you can identify are human because you will
be able to trace their past. Jim had one major problem when he arrived as you may
remember, and that was establishing a legal identity so that he would be able to trade
effectively. The Amazons should not be able to truly prove their earth identity. This
office will be able to identify a suspect Amazon as truly being so."

"You don't believe they will take on the identity of one of their victims?"

"That never crossed my mind. Venetians are not in the habit of killing females.
The Amazons will kill all the males if they wish to destroy a people, but they rarely harm a
female. Now that you mention it, I wouldn't entirely rule out that possibility as well. I
understand that your FBI and CIA can get totally involved in this at once."

"Antiope, how are you doing in your submarine world?"

"I think it would be nice to experience some fresh air."

"I'm going to put out to sea and bring you onboard the Dutchman and give you
some true living space. If I return, after leaving, it will be in secret so that you don't
know. I must have you onboard to greet Jim and Helen when they return."

"You're going to bring Jim and Helen back?"

"I'm planning on it."

Antiope advised Commander Rickover that she would be relocating to the yacht
shortly. John put the Flying Dutchman out to sea.

A few hours later, John took his Box to the submarine and took Antiope back to
the yacht. Jim used the Box to provide Antiope with ample living quarters. She had John
manufacture some more gold so that she could expand her industries. While John and
Helen waited on Idiot to perform its computations, they enjoyed a pleasant eleven days.

Each day, John surprised Antiope with a different port. Each time between ports
he would sail it briskly and then would use a space shift to move a few thousand miles
when Antiope wasn't looking. He would prefer to do the shift while she slept. John
would also shift the yacht frequently between a sailing rig to a high powered motorized
yacht of 30,000 horsepower plus. If the weather was bad he would space shift rather than
fold up the sailing rig.

Antiope amused herself with her media connections. She was busy with
teleconferences, market transactions, and executive decisions of all sorts.

Efforts to track the Amazons were also going well. John felt that he had his finger
on better than ninety percent of the Amazons.

Antiope loved her excursions with John. They would always dress down and
mingle well with the crowds of the ports that they visited. John used his Box to speak the
language of the natives. True to form, they handed out trinkets from a bottomless purse
that Antiope carried. Pity the poor purse snatcher that tried to steal her purse, and there
were many who tried. Seeing them as nothing more than a nuisance, she amused herself
as she watched them quiver in fear as she mused herself pondering which finger she should
cut off. When she had scared the individual enough to her satisfaction, she would release
the individual. Occasionally she was not sympathetic and took off a small finger, and keep
it to show the next transgressor.

There was even an occasion when they were attacked at gun-point. They both
laughed mockingly at their would be attackers. John winked at Antiope and she stripped
to nothing. The leader shot at John several times, and he obligingly played dead for them
as he listened to them intimidate Antiope.

Lazarus Cain

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