Lost ship deceptions, p.1
Lost Ship: Deceptions, page 1
Book 3 — Deceptions
Fish on the Attack!
The President of the People’s Republic of China had a problem. Until a mere few years ago, China was arguably the second-greatest nation in the world after the United States. But in less than a year, this upstart company titled Exotic Mysteries, humiliated China. The loss of face simply could not be ignored and the recent destruction of a vast majority of their naval fleet was also inexcusable. But how to retaliate? This firm, Exotic Mysteries, controlled orbit, and effectively space, which was troubling. And their island Headquarters off Europe’s coast was difficult to assail and was also a protectorate of a European nation.
On a beautiful Christmas morning when people were enjoying their holiday around their trees, the Chinese struck. Since their earlier submarine attack/commando raid had been foiled, a more direct approach was called for. Instead of a close-in submarine attack, they elected a different submarine tactic. For the past several months, they had quietly been testing the force screen around the Azores. They discovered that if it was shaped like a fish and swam like a fish, the force screen ignored it, so they swam several hundred bombs in via their “fish”. These bombs were just laying on the ocean floor next to the island. The Chinese had even caught fish and used their actual skin as the outer skin of the fish. They lay unmoving until a certain signal was heard.
However much they looked like fish, they were bombs, set to activate upon command. No one at Exotic Mysteries thought to check to see why there were so many fish lying on the seafloor and their AI was not set up to look for that, so it was indeed a clever ruse.
Cathy and her children were in the U.S. visiting family for the holidays and Val was with Pedro at his family’s estate in Algarve. She had been there for a week, enjoying him and his family’s company. They all got along well. She and Pedro enjoyed the time they spent together, taking small trips where he showed her the beauty of his birth country. For example, one week they drove north of Lisbon to see Coimbra, a city of incredible historical places. Val loved the University of Coimbra, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site that dates back to the thirteenth century. She also loved libraries so they went inside the university’s library. The Baroque architecture library was amazing. The tables were carved from gleaming rosewood and dark mahogany looted from colonies in South America and India, and the ceiling was densely painted with allegorical frescoes. Val was almost scared to touch the tables since they were so gorgeous.
The library held texts that dated from the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries, covering academic subjects from law and philosophy to theology and medicine. Access to the library was tightly controlled to help conserve the books in such a humid climate. Most intriguing was thee fact that a small colony of bats was released into the interior each night, to eat any insects that might harm the books. Val had never heard of anyplace else doing something even remotely like that, but after all this time, she figured they would know what they were doing. She desperately wanted to read some of the ancient texts but they wouldn’t let her until she met with the head librarian, explained who she was and agreed to sponsor five students to the university as well as to build a library associated with the university on the Exotic Mysteries campus. It ended up costing her ten million dollars but it was well worth it. And she could not think of many better ways to spend her money other than this purpose. Val believed in higher education; without it, she would not have gotten anywhere.
The town was crammed with unusual shops and fashionable boutiques next to trendy cafés and inexpensive eateries. It was a good place to pause and sample some of Portugal’s rich egg custard pastries served in the many bakeries of the area while enjoying the city’s own brand of fado. Here, the mournful folk songs, accompanied by traditional Coimbra guitar, were more likely to be performed by men than women. The songs also have a more literary turn than found elsewhere. Val almost cried at one of the songs, it was so sad. Well done, but incredibly sad. They bought several presents for their friends and parents.
Val and Pedro had Christmas at his parent’s house. Val had secretly purchased a fancy cashmere suit for Pedro and wrapped it herself for him, along with a Rolex watch. She was excited to see how he liked it. She knew by now what he liked in clothes so she was pretty sure he would like it, but you never knew until the time came.
Dee, back from her journey treasure hunting in League space, was with Takeeta for their own little Christmas party until tomorrow when they both would leave for family Christmas get-togethers. Takeeta’s family was in Ethiopia, awaiting her. Val’s family was in Tijuana, visiting friends for the holidays. Val authorized a group of twenty Exotic Mysteries troops to protect them, just in case. The crime problem there was still high but the presence of a Exotic Mysteries’ pinnace and the troops surrounding her parent’s old neighborhood seemed to curtail the crime and killing and the cartels themselves. Val knew, however, that after Exotic Mysteries left it would, unfortunately, return to the way it was, cartels controlling the area and instituting their own brand of justice. The central government was too weak to effectively deal with it, so the crime continued. One of Takeeta’s siblings was working today, relieving another worker in headquarters who wanted to be with their family on Christmas. One of Val’s siblings had also elected to stay since he was dating a local island girl. On that morning, however, he was showing her the Headquarters campus, sneaking in a kiss here and there, as young people are wont to do.
Pedro loved his suit. He kept going on and on about how much it meant to him. He got Val a cashmere sweater and some pure leather ski boots since they were going skiing the next week. Everyone exchanged presents and then Val noticed everyone all of a sudden got quiet. She was wondering why when Pedro dropped to one knee and proposed. She immediately accepted, threw her arms over his shoulders and they kissed over and over. Everyone around was clapping and so happy she felt nothing could ever disturb her happiness. And then they heard far off sound.
On Christmas morning, when most people were celebrating, the Chinese fish received the signal, activated and launched themselves at the structures of the Exotic Mysteries campus. They flew up and out of the water and into the buildings. After just a few minutes, not one of Exotic Mysteries' buildings were standing, other than the Founders’ homes which had escaped the blasts since they were not considered important. Five hundred Exotic Mysteries employees had decided to work through Christmas for one reason or another and lost their lives, as did Val and Takeeta’s siblings and Val’s sibling’s girlfriend.
Takeeta was in her home enjoying the relaxing morning until it was disturbed by the roar of the explosions. She, of course, was protected by her augmentation but she heard the roar, felt the vibrations, and saw the devastation from the front row. She was stunned.
Via drone, the President of the People’s Republic of China was enjoying watching the devastation of that puny company on that puny island, a protectorate of a puny European nation. He made an international announcement immediately.
“The People’s Republic of China has just taught the irresponsible Exotic Mysteries revolutionaries how not to attack a sovereign nation, the greatest nation on the face of the Earth. We expect them to now wallow in self-pity and shame at their weakness. We have demonstrated to all the might of the People’s Republic. No one can withstand our might. To the supposed protector of these fanatics, Portugal, we say to stay out of this or you will suffer similar consequences.”
Val felt, through telepathy, the extreme anxiety from both Takeeta and Dee. They told her what had happened, so she made her regrets to Pedro and his family and from the middle of their living area, she teleported to Dee and Takeeta.
Dee, Takeeta and Val met in Dee’s home. They cried for what seemed like hours. They were incredibly sad due to the loss of their people, including Val and Takeeta’s relatives. The loss of their buildings was devastating as well, but they had insurance for that. All research and development efforts were backed up to their AI-controlled central computers in the two space stations every five minutes. They contacted their vice presidents and asked them to contact all their employees. If the employees desired, one of the islands south of the Azores where their new campus was to be was already available and they could relocate there now at one hundred percent salary and at Exotic Mysteries’ expense. Or some positions could work from home until the full campus facilities were available.
About half chose to come back immediately, especially the scientists. It would be a tight fit until all of the islands were completed, but doable for the short term. Dee made sure rebuilding efforts were at maximum speed without sacrificing quality. The rebuilding efforts were costing them six billion dollars, but it was worth it. They rebuilt the buildings with special bomb shelters as well, just in case. And the headquarters building had an escape that led to an underground landing bay that opened out into the Atlantic. A pinnace was always there in case of emergency. And the special submarine crawler was there as well.
First, they contacted Portugal’s prime minister. He was sorry they had been attacked and the government would submit a strong protest in the United Nations. The next day, the Chinese ambassador to Portugal was told to leave the country and his embassy would be closed in thirty days. Portugal lodged a formal condemnation of the Chinese attack. The Chinese ambassador merely smiled and said that was the price anyone who challenged the might of the People’s Republic would pay. There was a vote in the United Nations to condemn the action by the Chin
Blockade
Exotic Mysteries issued its own announcement the day after the United Nations vote.
Exotic Mysteries will not be cowed by the unprovoked and vicious actions of the People’s Republic of China. Effective immediately, we pursue the following actions:
1.Exotic Mysteries immediately declares a blockade against the People’s Republic and will interdict any and all shipping coming to or from China on the open seas.
2.No commercial business will be conducted by Exotic Mysteries with the People’s Republic. If others do so, we will automatically cease all commercial interests with that party, whether it is a commercial enterprise or a nation.
3.We will send a bill to the People’s Republic which will be the cost to replace the buildings on the island and recompense the families of those who lost loved ones in this despicable attack.
4.All commercial flights in/out of the People’s Republic will be interdicted immediately.
5.Other measures as deemed appropriate.
The Chinese sent all of their few remaining naval vessels, into international waters to escort various Chinese cargo vessels carrying supplies worldwide. Once a ship left a Chinese port, they were met by an armed Exotic Mysteries pinnace who stopped their progress and directed them back to shore. If they did not turn back, a laser performed the same procedure Exotic Mysteries employed before; they destabilized the keel, making it slowly dissolve and the cargo vessel would begin to sink. If there was an accompanying Chinese frigate, it received the same treatment.
On several occasions, the Chinese frigate didn’t seem to care and tried to engage the armed pinnace with no damaging results since the pinnace simply activated its force screen. Several times, the Chinese ships would keep firing with their keel dissolving under them, so the armed pinnace simply waited until it sank. Several large cargo carriers did not turn back quickly enough and sank a few miles from where their keel started to dissolve. The survivors were rescued by the armed Exotic Mysteries pinnaces via inflatable lifeboats that were thrown down to them.
Passenger jets trying to fly out of China were treated differently. From orbit, they were tractored and thus prevented from lifting off. The Chinese tried to force the issue by having many passenger jets take off simultaneously, hoping to overload the tractoring. That was a possibility, so Takeeta just had them cut off the tail with a laser, thus preventing take off. One plane tried to take off anyway, only to crash back onto the runway after a run of only several hundred feet.
Exotic Mysteries made sure all of this made the news, showing they were doing their part to alleviate casualties, unlike the Chinese in their attack. The railroads west and north out of China were cut by lasers from orbit, which easily shut down railway traffic. The only way left for supplies in and out was through Russia via roadways to the north, or the various Asian countries like Vietnam and Burma in the south. Those southern countries, in the beginning, let Chinese convoys through but after a notice from Exotic Mysteries that they too risked a blockade, they closed their borders. The only way left was Russia to the north. Takeeta made a call to the Russian president.
“Sir, we would like you to stop allowing Chinese commerce in or out of your country.”
“We are Mother Russia. We do as we please.”
“I have a proposal then,” Takeeta said. “I propose we open a plant in Russia to produce our solar panels. Our solar panels plant in Nevada cannot handle the current or projected load. This plant would provide two thousand jobs, not counting ancillary jobs and money supporting these works would be spent in restaurants, laundries, grocery stores and the like, improving the economy.”
Russia’s President said, “We could entertain that idea for a larger plant, providing say, three thousand jobs.”
Takeeta smiled and said, “Agreed.”
A few days later it was announced that an Exotic Mysteries plant to produce solar panels would be placed outside St. Petersburg. Quietly, the Russians shut down the long border with China.
Press Announcement
Tomorrow, Exotic Mysteries will make an important announcement on a medical product of immense importance to millions of people worldwide.
“Hello. I am Dr. Ephraim Moltoi, the chief diabetes medical researcher here at Exotic Mysteries. I am here to announce a device that will greatly enhance your quality of life if you currently have diabetes. We have yet to discern the cause of diabetes, but this device will make your life much easier if you do contract it.
“Exotic Mysteries will release, next week, a small nanite ‘controller’, that will maintain your insulin level at a normal rate when placed in your pancreas. We cannot stop you from having diabetes yet, but if you do already have it, this device will greatly enhance your quality of life. The nanite controller is the size of the eraser on a typical graphite pencil and will last for a period of ten years when it will need to be extracted and replaced. This is due to wear out of the special battery it utilizes. Questions?”
The New York Times reporter asked, “When will this be available?”
Moltoi replied, “Well, let’s see. Probably Monday of next week.”
Then the Wall Street Journal reporter asked, “Who will it apply to?”
Moltoi replied, “Anyone with Type 2 diabetes.”
The skinny lady from the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer asked in a quiet tone, “How many is that?”
Moltoi immediately answered, “Well, that would be about thirty seven million Americans alone, since one in ten of have diabetes.
The Miami Herald reporter looked like he was about to have a stroke as he was nervously jumping up and down. He asked in an anxious voice, “Is the process of inserting the device onerous and expensive?”
Dr. Moltoi replied, “It can be as easy as a short laparoscopic surgery session in a hospital with a minimum stay. The prices for the surgery will vary depending upon a variety of factors, most notably your health insurance coverage, where the surgery is performed, and by whom.”
The Denver Post reporter asked a very important question, “What is the price of the device itself?”
Dr. Moltoi smiled and replied that the price was only fifty five thousand dollars. “This is inexpensive when you consider the benefit it provides. And remember that every ten years, the device must be replaced since we cannot make a battery that small that will last more than ten years. If you have any more questions, please submit them and I will answer them as soon as possible. Thank you.”
Bon Voyage!
Exotic Mysteries’ Lake Tahoe office again became the operational Headquarters of the firm until operations at the Azores could be resumed. Except this time, it would be at their new headquarters on their island south of the Azores in international waters.
Dee and Val flew to Lisbon to discuss matters with the prime minister.
Dee began by saying, “Sir, I am here to inform you that Exotic Mysteries will be changing a few things in the near future.”
The prime minister replied sadly, “I was expecting this. Please continue.”
Dee continued, “We are completing our new campus and headquarterss on several islands south of the Azores, in international waters. Since you were such a gracious host to us in the past, we will leave some of the production infrastructure in the Azores in order to provide needed jobs for the islands.”
“I feared as much. I know you were unhappy with our approach to resolve the tension between you and the People’s Republic. But it is what we decided to do and we had to follow through.”
“As do we. We hope to remain in good relations with Portugal as it has been our adopted country for many years now.”
