Matthew S. Williams's Blog, page 176

The Case for Terraforming Venus

This weekend appears to be shaping up with a theme: news from space that isn’t about Mars. I swear that it’s entirely accidental. First there was the discovery of the diamond planet, 55 Cancri e, and now a story about the merits of terraforming another planetary neighbor. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s not Mars for a change.

Yes, it seems that there is a strong case for terraforming Venus instead of the Red Planet, and it comes from numerous scientists who claim that altering the climate on that planet could help us save our own. The reason being – and stop me if this sounds frightening – is because our planet could one day look just like our lifeless, acid ridden, cloud covered neighbor.

In short, Venus underwent a carbon-dioxide fueled cataclysm a long time ago, when it was still young and was believed to have oceans. In those early days, and as the sun got brighter, Venus’s oceans began to boil and evaporate into the atmosphere. As a result, carbon dioxide accumulated in the atmosphere, due in part to the lack of carbon recycling which depends on the presence of oceans and seaborne algae. This is essentially a magnified version of the Greenhouse Effect, which scientists identify as the reason for rising temperatures and melting polar ice caps here at home.

Because of this, Venus became the hot, deadly planet that we are familiar with today, with surface temperatures that average 467°C (872°F), hot enough to melt lead. What’s more, its atmosphere consists of 96% carbon dioxide, which appear as thick layers of clouds that float 50-70 km above the surface. Above that, clouds and mist of concentrated sulfuric acid and gaseous sulfur dioxide lead to acid rains that could literally melt the flesh off your bones and the metal off a landing craft. Combined with the amount of sunlight it gets (twice that of Earth) and the lack of a magnetosphere, Venus is a pretty damn awful place to visit!

Of course, some would say that this makes terraforming the planet a pretty dangerous and poor prospect, at least compared to Mars. However, the benefits of terraforming Venus are far greater, certainly when we consider that the lessons gleamed from it could help us reverse the Greenhouse Effect here on Earth. In addition, it’s closer than Mars, making it easier and quicker to travel back and forth. And like the Earth, it resides within the solar system’s habitable zone and has its own atmosphere, not to mention it is nearly the same mass and size as Earth.

All of this, when taken together, would make Venus a far more suitable place to live once the terraforming process was complete. In short, its easier to convert an existing atmosphere than to create one from scratch. And, as noted, the process of converting the CO2 and sulfur-rich atmosphere into one that a breathable one that is rich with water and precipitation would go a long way to helping us device solutions to cleaning up our own atmosphere here at home.

This may sound like pure speculation, but in truth, many solutions have already been proposed. In fact, Carl Sagan began proposing that we introduce genetically-modified airborne algae into Venus atmosphere 50 years ago. Thought not 100 percent practical, it was a stepping stone to some more recent ideas which may prove doable. In 1981, NASA engineer James Oberg proposed that all the CO2 could be blown out into space. Again, not the most practical idea, but they were thinking and that’s what matters!

More recently, Paul Birch, a writer for the British Interplanetary Society, proposed flooding Venus with hydrogen. Once it interacting with the high concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere, the end products would be graphite and plenty of water. Other plans involve carbon capture, nanotechnology, and other advanced forms of ecological engineering. These, alone or in combination, could prove to be the difference between thick glass clouds and sulfuric oceans and a lush green planet covered with water and vegetation.

A pretty interesting prospect; and if it all works out, humanity could end up with three habitable planets within the Solar System alone. Combined with pressure domes and sealed arcologies on the system’s various moons and larger asteroids, planet Earth could one day retire as the sole host of humanity and this thing we call “civilization”. In fact, I could foresee a time when our world goes on to become hallowed ground, hosting only a few hundred million people and free of heavy industry or urban sprawl. Hello idea for a story!

And, to mix up what I usually say at the end of every one of these posts, stay tuned for more news from Mars and other planets within our Solar System. There’s a lot of them out there, and someday, they might all places that our species calls “home”.

Source: IO9

A Diamond Bigger Than Earth

Some interesting news from space these days, and for once didn’t have to do with Mars. For many years, scientists at NASA and other space agencies have known about 55 Cancri e, an extrasolar planet that orbits the Sun-like star 55 Cancri A that is approximately 41 years from our system. Up until recently, it was believed that this planet was a “Super-Earth”, a planet many times the mass of Earth composed of granite.

Recently, however, scientists have announced that the planet may in fact be composed of carbon. That means, in essence, that the surface is composed of graphite and diamond. These findings come as part of a study that was released by the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie in Toulouse, France. Nikku Madhusudhan, a Yale researcher who was part of the project, estimates that at least a third of the planet’s mass, the equivalent of about three Earth masses, could be diamond.

Imagine that, three entire Earth’s worth of diamonds! The mind reels at the staggering amount of wealth and opulence that this planet could produce, if only human mining teams were able to access it. However, surface conditions might complicate that a little. According to that same report, the planet is incredibly hot, with temperatures on its surface reaching 1,648 Celsius (3,900 degrees Fahrenheit). Not exactly cozy, by Earth standards.

Speaking of which, this is another aspect of the discovery which is proving exciting. According to Madhusudhan, “This is our first glimpse of a rocky world with a fundamentally different chemistry from Earth,” adding that the discovery of the carbon-rich planet meant distant rocky planets could no longer be assumed to have chemical constituents, interiors, atmospheres, or biologies similar to Earth. And he’s not alone is suspecting that discoveries like this are just the tip of the iceberg, as we work our way further out into the universe and discover more examples of strange and exotic exoplanets.

Source: Yahoo News.ca

New Music Video Tells the Theory of Panspermia

Those who saw Prometheus recently, or witnessed the cinematic spectacle known as 2001: A Space Odyssey, will be instantly familiar with the concept. Basically, it asserts that life exists throughout the Universe and is distributed by meteoroids, asteroids and planetoids. In the more fantastic and imaginative version of this story, the distribution process is being helped along by alien “Engineers” or “Firstborn” who make it a point to seed worlds with their own genetic material, or tamper with existing life to promote evolution.

This new music video, produced by Tom Walsh, is a new and interesting take on the concept. Here, set to the music of “The Last Human on Earth” (by Swimming & Alex Herington), tells the story of a human engineer who is busy distributing human DNA throughout the Universe. Many times over, the name HERA comes up, which refers to Human Evolution Recovery Administration, a group that was formed in 1950 with the purpose of ensuring that humanity survives the death of our sun, our world, and any cataclysms that might come our way.

Check out the video below, and be sure to look up HERA at its website as well. Some very cool reading and watching!

Source: IO9

On Perseverance

Reblogged from Cristian Mihai:

Being a writer is tough. It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of time, and a lot of courage. Because it’s not just the rejection or the feeling that people don’t like your writing, but it’s more about the work you’re putting onto paper before anyone even sees your work. Writing a first draft, which sometimes can be a very daunting task, then rewriting, editing, changing parts, adding or removing, and doing this over and over again can be frustrating.

Read more… 301 more words

Though he's passed on, Bradbury still manages to offer inspiration from the grave!

More News From the Red Planet!

Big news from and about Mars this week! Yes, the Red Planet is showing no signs of slowing down when it comes to making the headlines. But in the past week, the biggest stories have been roughly 100 million kilometers apart. That’s the current distance between the Earth and Mars, give or take a few meters.

The first bit of news came three days ago, when NASA scientists went batty over the discovery of a shiny object sitting in Curiosity’s path, which it quickly began to examine. The second came from Morocco, where a meteorite that landed in the desert 14 months ago was revealed to have come from the Red Planet itself, prompting a team of scientists from the University of Alberta to bring it back for research.

Though seemingly unrelated, both stories had one thing in common. By examining objects on the martian surface, and those which break off from time to time and fall to Earth, scientists may be able to reconstruct what conditions on the surface of the planet were once like.

Unfortunately, the first bit of news turned out to be a bit of a hoax. After examining the shiny object, the Curiosity team determined that it had come from Curiosity itself. At least, that was there initial conclusion when they realized that the object was most likely plastic, which is not something you find sitting on the surface of a dead planet. An image of the object taken by the rover’s micro-imager ChemCam shows it looking very different from the Martian surface around it (click to get a better view).

As for the meteorite, research there may prove to be more lucrative. According to Chris Herd, a geologist with the University of Alberta, the meteorite holds traces of Mars’ atmosphere from when it split off, roughly 600 million years ago. Apparently, the meteorite started out as a typical volcanic rock on the surface of Mars until it was launched off the planet by the impact of an asteroid.

As Herd puts it, when the meteorite struck the martian surface, “a shock wave shot through the rock. Cracks and fissures within the rock were sealed instantly by the heat, trapping components of Mars’ atmosphere inside, and forming black, glassy spots.” These glassy spots are the real point of interest because they reveal “evidence of weathering at the Martian surface.”

This is further evidence that Mars boasted water on its surface, and as recently as within the last few hundred million years. It does not definitively prove whether or not it also boasted life, but at least it helps to confirm what Curiosity has been observing in recent weeks. It’s also exciting news because it means that Mars could one day be made to accommodate water again. This will come in mighty handy should humans ever decide to settle there!

Stay tuned for more Red Planet news!

Sources: cbc.ca, news.cnet.com

Batman: Nightwing Short

There’s something to be said about short fan videos. Oftentimes, they are of low-quality and really don’t boast a lot of thought or creativity. But every so often, you get something of real value. Star Wars fans have been treated to some rather appealing videos over the years where fans, using their own imaging and rendering software, produced videos of lightsaber fights that weren’t half bad. And more recently, I came across this video which is the first in a proposed series of Batman shorts that were inspired by the original comics.

This one is entitled Batman: Nightwing and follows the exploits of Dick Grayson, the original Robin who went on to become his own superhero after leaving Batman’s side. Here we see him being called in to deal with the Red Hood, a villain in that emerged relatively recently in the franchise who turned about to be Jason Todd, the second Robin. For those who are unfamiliar with the comics, this is the Robin who was murdered by the Joker and then was resurrected, and returned to Gotham as a villain.

Personally, I like the video because it takes two characters who are important in their own right, but rarely the focus in the franchise, and squares them off against each other. There’s also a sense of generational conflict since we basically have the original Robin and his successor fighting, the one who went independent fighting the one who went bad. It just feels appropriate and significant, don’t you think?

The producer, Danny Shepherd, indicated that this video would become part of a series, and that was when it reached its first 100,000 hits. Now, it’s hovering at just over 540,000! Yeah, I’m thinking there’s going to be a sequel or two Check out the video:

Whiskey Delta – Chapter 30

“No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.”

-Niccolo Machiavelli

Whitman’s feet were beginning to get itchy. His feet searched in vain for a rock to kick, but found only gravel. Kicking that only seemed to bring up dust, so he tried his best to resist that particular urge. For days now he had been feeling the rumble of a vehicle around him, the steady vibrating pedals beneath his feet. Standing still at this point felt downright awful.

And then there was the sounds and smells. Everything was so damn quiet, nothing but the sounds of birds and the occasional gust of wind to break the monotony of relative silence. And dammit if it didn’t all smell real fresh and natural. He preferred that to the stench of the inner city and anywhere else that had been overrun by those stinking monsters, but the smell of diesel and engine grease was better still. That smelt was safe, a reminder of the several inches of reinforced steel that kept him protected.

But this fresh air nonsense… it smelt like exposure.

Little wonder then why his hands were feeling itchy too. He had checked and rechecked his weapon many times, even pointed it down range of them in the hopes that aiming at something might make him feel better. Alas, no. He guessed that squeezing off a few rounds might, but of course, they were under strict fire discipline. Any stray fire would only draw the enemy to them.

All this thinking was making his more antsy. Aiming his gun down range, he began to wave it back and forth and made shooting noises. First the sound of the SCAR’s regular pop, pop, pop, followed by what he imagined it would sound like suppressed.

“Pew, pew, pew! Pew, pew, pew!” he said in rapid succession. He could feel Kobayashi beginning to stare at him and turned around.

“What, man?”

“Nothing,” he said, quickly looking away. Whitman grunted and turned back to the gravel, risked a kick that sent all kinds of dust into the air.

 He looked back again and noted that Kobayashi was still standing there perfectly still, his launcher held low by his waist. Something about it seemed particularly annoying to him suddenly.

“How can you stand so fucking still?”

A smile formed at the edge of the big man’s mouth. “Because I’m not high on cheap crank.”

“Wh- What are you talking about.”

“That trucker shit you’ve been popping to keep awake. Don’t you know it’s bad for you?”

“What makes you think I’m popping crank? And incidentally, it’s trucker pills. That shit is safe!”

Kobayashi’s face formed into a full-on smirk this time. “My brother hauled freight for like eight years. That’s how I can tell you’re high as fuck. He’d come to dinners too soon after work, be fidgeting and yelling the whole way through the thing.”

Whitman frowned. “Really? You guys drive trucks too?”

Kobayashi frowned back and raised his finger. “Watch it, white man! Besides, my brother finally quit because his do told him that his heart couldn’t stand the stress of so many uppers and downers no more.”

“Hey, I don’t do the blue pills, man. I’m a red pill kind of guy, once in awhile I might pop the primo Mexican shit.”

“Fuck the amphetamines and the crank, man. Smoke some Kush! Calms you down, makes you cool and even. Way better than that greasy shit.”

Whitman began looking at Kobayashi sideways. This was a side of him he didn’t think existed, the kind of person who sounded more comfortable talking about weed and gaming than his ancestors and that Bushido shit. He found it hard to imagine that he had ever really partaken really.

“Oh?” he replied. “Is that how you maintain that Zen-like trance you guys are so proud of?”

Kobayashi snarled at him. He knew a thinly-veiled racial slur when he heard one. Luckily, he knew about Whitman at this point to hit him back where he lived.

“You get a bit more of that going where you’re from, and less crystal meth and crack, maybe you wouldn’t be burning crosses so much.”

“Ooh! Somebody’s been talking to the Sarge!What, he tell you how to pigeon hole me just because I got some questionable ancestry?” Kobayashi laughed. Whitman had to admit, he was feeling a little better too. All this talk appeared to be lessening the pressure he was feeling behind his eyeballs. He grumbled one last comment and got back into position again.

“Yeah, I call hate crimes on you guys.”

They stood by the door of the Stryker for several more moment, though they seemed to pass more comfortably now. Nevertheless, Whitman felt he could hear something new, something other than the sound of pressure building inside his skull. It was low, thumping and fast, but not his heart threatening to blow a gasket. He looked over at Kobayashi, saw that he heard it too.

“What the hell is that?”

Kobayashi narrowed his eyes, appeared to be listening closer. The sound was growing now, and Whitman realized what it had to be just as Kobayashi said it aloud.

“We got an incoming chopper.”

*                    *                    *

If only they had given us suppressors, he thought. Wouldn’t that have been beyond cool? But then again, few military units did unless they were involved wetwork. But dammit, wasn’t the Colonel lady supposed to be Special Forces? Didn’t they shoot up motherfuckers all the time with silenced rifles?

They were coming to another clearing at last, which was good. Not only did it means they were coming upon their target again, it also nice to be breaking clear of the foliage. Braun did not claim to possess any sixth-sense abilities, but the surroundings were beginning to feel just the slightest bit claustrophobic.

The opening up ahead was like a release valve. Blue and white coming in through a hole in the canopy. He could see clear to the other side of the Reservoir and to the sky beyond. And once again, the colors were changing before his eyes, distance and light lending everything a misty, drab-like quality.

Saunder’s laptop was once again beeping loudly too. Ever since they made it around that first clearing and tilted back east, they knew by virtue of its constant rhythm that they were on a straight track to their target. A few more meters and Braun ordered her to stow it and shut off the sensor. He reached into the pocket over his left breast and removed his PDA, held it up for the others to see.

“Our target isn’t likely to be alone. Be ready to ID any faces once we’re in range.”

The squad obliged and brought their PDA’s forward, sliding them into place on the stocks of their weapons. Point and ID, that was the name of the game now. Braun raised his arm and motioned forward, and the squad began to spread out and form into a horizontal line moving forward.

He looked back to the clearing now and saw through more clearly now. Water below them, a think layer of mist between them and its surface. Ripples on the water showed the wind coming through the area, while birds waded on its currents above them. They were so close now, on the verge of reaching their target. He could feel the anticipation building, and also that sense of warning that told him to be on the lookout for any last minute surprises.

They hit the opening at last. The light washed over them and caused their HUD’s to darken a few shades. It began to slowly lighten as their visors compensated. They seemed to react much as their eyes would have had they come without the special suits. Within seconds, they received a clear view of the panoramic scene, the vast sweep of the Reservoir beneath and the sloping greenery that led to it.

Braun raised his fist, and the squad descended to a crouched position. In the tall grass that had become their immediate surroundings, he  looked over to Saunders and nodded at her. Keeping the laptop on silent mode, she opened it up and looked just over to her left. Chin out, she nodded at a spot several dozen meters ahead. Braun waved two fingers in the same direction, ordering them to proceed forward two by two. Dezba and Mill were the first forward, he took Saunders by his side and moved adjacent to them. Cobb turned around and began slowly walking backwards, covering their rear.

Very slowly, they crept forward. He kept his eyes just above the grass and cattails, trying to spot the sign of a Whiskey head beneath them. Every so often, the grass swayed from a gust of wind, parting the field of green in various places. However, he couldn’t quite see the profile of a man just yet. Darker patches were visible, but they were still too far…

He could feel the ground crunching beneath his feet as they walked, the sound of the grass stroking against their gear. It was hard to tell, but the noise level created by their movements seemed acceptably low. The loudest noise was still the wind, and so the wind was their friend.

“Please… cover our approach, just a little bit longer.” He whispered these words quietly to her, knowing that he was the only one who could hear his words. But it didn’t hurt. He had to figure that whatever powers guided the universe wanted them to succeed. No divine force, no matter how cruel or sadistic, could ever envision these creatures carrying the day. Not for long at any rate…

The sudden intrusion from the comm made his stop and grunt. With the quiet and the heightened sense of awareness it had engendered, the sounds of Whitman’s voice in his ear was about the loudest thing he could imagine right now.

“Alpha team, this is Stryker. We got company. I repeat, we got company.”

Braun keyed his comm to reply. Ahead and behind, the rest of the team got the transmission too and came to a halt.

“Stryker, this Alpha leader. Say again, you’ve got Whiskeys on you?”

“Negative, sir,” said Whitman. “We got a bird, possibly two, inbound to our position, over.”

Braun felt the hair on the back his neck stand up. Another bird? Who the hell could it be this time? Had it been a too much to hope that HMS had sent only one team into the area, or that there were no more coming? Turning back, he looked to Cobb and quickly signed off with Whitman.

“Get back on the Stryker and make sure she’s under cover. Wait for further orders.” He didn’t wait for Whitman to respond before keying it again and messaging Cobb. “Corporal, get on the UAV. Sight that bird for me and give me an ID.”

Cobb produced the control pad from his pouch and powered it up. He quickly tapped the controls to get a visual from the Reaper’s camera feed and began to zoom, pan and search until he found the thermal image of the helicopter that was approaching them.

“I spot one, sir. Looks like a…” he fiddled with the display to get a closer look. The object was bright white, emitting a hard thermal signature, and its outline very familiar. That didn’t make it any less worrisome though. “Alpha Hotel Six-Four, sir. Apache attack chopper, and she’s inbound.”

Braun lowered his head and cursed silently. Out in the open, as they were, they’d be perfectly visible to the choppers thermal sights. And assuming they were after the same target as the rest of them, they might not take to the presence of his squad too nicely. If it came to a shooting match, the Apache would have them easily beat.

“Alright, squad. We make for the treeline and -”

“Sir!” Cobb interrupted. “I got worse news!”

Worse than an attack chopper that may be trying to kill us? he thought. What the hell could that be?

“What is it, Corporal?”

“Look for yourself.”

Cobb turned the pad around and began cycling through IR modes, positive and negative to give him a view of what he had just seen. All around them, their five heat signatures in the field, were the countless lesser signatures of Whiskeys. In one mode, they appeared as bright grey outlines next to their five bright ones. In the other, as mottled black ones next to their jet black ones. Either way, the picture was clear. They were surrounded!

“Son of a bitch,” he said to himself. They hadn’t seen any of them yet, but he was beginning to suspect that was because they weren’t meant to. They had been warned to expect some tricks from their prey on this op, but he had never imagined, not in his wildest dreams, that they would be able to pull something like this. He felt stupid and angry all at once, part of him still clinging to the hope that it had been purely accidental.

“What do we do, sir?” asked Cobb. He was joined by Dezba shortly thereafter. The team was still waiting on him and didn’t know yet.

“Sir, do we move on the target or the treeline sir? We need to do it now, sir!”

Braun could barely hear him. The sound of his heart and heavy breathing was picking up in his ears, and that feeling of claustrophobia again. They didn’t need to be under a canopy of trees for him to feel constricted now. Worse than before, he could feel dark hands moving in, clutching at his throat, and the final blow felt like it was yet to come. Where would it come from? Above, or all around them? It mattered little. Either way, they were just as dead!

“Sir? What do we do?”

And then it hit him, a searing burst of light that pushed the darkness back. The chopper was close enough that he could hear the distant thump or rotors through his helmet, and the display showed that the bulk of their targets were moving in from the south. What was it the Mage had told him that one time, echoing the advice his dad used to give him?

“Sir? What do we do?” repeated Dezba. Braun keyed his comm.

Never miss an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. “Everybody take cover. Cobb, bring the UAV’s weapons online!”

3D GIF of Rotating Nebula

click to see 3D animation

Pretty freakishly cool isn’t it? Personally, I never really got onto this GIF thing. It’s like, if it fits on the page and looks cool, it’s all good. However, this one was too cool to ignore. The brain-child of Finnish astrophotographer J-P Metsävainio, this GIF depicts IC 1396, a nebula where stars are born.

This nebula is a little over 2000 light years away, toward the constellation of Cepheus, and is well over a hundred light years across. Even at its tremendous distance, it’s wider than six full Moons in our sky. For some time, Metsävainio has been making impressive images of this nebula, but that didn’t seem to be enough for the erstwhile stargazer. And so, he began playing with 3D images in the hopes of creating a model of the structure of the nebula, one which showed it from different angles.

Granted, some have gone on record as saying this is more art than astronomy, and not all the features are one-hundred percent accurate. But the animation does give you a good sense of the nebula’s composition, as well as a glimpse of what the heart of a star-birthing nebula looks like. Notice the large blue star in the middle that is the ionizing source – i.e. the hot, young, massive star blasting out ultraviolet light which makes the nebula glow. The dark strands on the outside are filaments of dust which appear that way because absorb the visible light emitted from the center of the nebula.

The color pattern is also quite accurate, with blue on the inside and red without. This color change is due to the presence of oxygen gas within the cloud which glows blue because of its proximity to the central stars. Farther out, the starlight is too weak to make oxygen glow, so all you see is the ruddy glow from hydrogen. And fyi, that star is mu Cephei, a massive red supergiant which happens to be one of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way, possibly over 300,000 times more luminous than the Sun.

Pretty cool huh? Hat’s off to you Metsävainio. I can’t speak for everyone, but you’ve certainly blown my mind! Click on the photo to watch the animation, and if you want to download it, don’t be surprised if it takes a while. The damn thing is 7 megabytes!

Source: discovermagazine.com/badastronomy

Worlds First Medimachine!

Medimachine: noun, a nanotechnological device used for medical applications. Granted, that’s not a working definition, but it does encompass what the technology is all about. And, as it happens, researchers at Standford created the world’s first device which is capable of traveling through the human bloodstream and which is controlled and powered wirelessly just this past year.

This development came in the midst of a similar significant development over at MIT. In January of this year, they announced that they had developed the world’s first implantable microchip that could deliver drugs directly into the bloodstream. This chip is also controlled wirelessly, and is the first step towards remote implants that could contain an entire pharmacy.

According to Ada Poon, the lead developer of the Standford team, the next step in the development of this device will be creating models that incorporate sensors and drug delivery systems for the ultimate in pin-point accurate medicine. If successful, Poon and her team could very well be responsible for creating the prototype device that will inspire entire generations of medical machines that are conducting exploratory exams, cleaning our arteries, removing tumors, destroying pathogens and viruses, and even repairing internal injuries.

And just think, if this development triggers further research and development, it could very well lead to nanomachines which are capable of making even tinier nanomachines. These devices could in turn manipulate matter on the mitochondrial level, correcting faults in our DNA and turning harmful or unwanted cells into something more useful for our bodies.

Just another step on the road to transhumanism and post-mortality!

Source: Extremtech.com

Whiskey Delta – Chapter 29

“Their rage supplies them with weapons.”

-Virgil

The treeline was all he could see on the display screen now. Having reached the end of the road, the nav display was effectively useless. They didn’t need a satellite map telling them they were turning this way and that into heavy brush. And in any case, the dense trees they were approaching would soon make their wheeled vehicle entirely useless.

Whitman brought them into a flat patch and secured the driving controls. Dezba switched the M151 over to auto fire and pushed his terminal out of the way.  Both were grabbing their weapons as Braun moved to the rear and began rousing the others. Saunders closed up the laptop and grabbed her sniper rifle while Mill and Cobb slung their SCARS.

Only Kobayashi was still sitting in his seat. He suspected, and rightly, that he would need to watch their guests while the others were away. Still, Braun felt the need to explain things to Beaumont. Even if they were on the edge, there was no need to treat them as anything less than soldiers. They still had a right to  know everything that was going on.

“Sergeant, this is where we get off. We shouldn’t be long, but until we return, I’d like you and your men to hold up here.”

Beaumont’s eyes began darting around, a look of mild panic taking him. “Just us… alone?”

“No. I’ll be leaving Kobayashi and Whitman to make sure you stay safe. They’ll provide cover from the outside and make sure nothing get’s close. Chances are, nothing’s going to come this way anyway, but no sense in leaving that to chance.”

Beaumont nodded quickly and breathed a shaky sigh. Braun put his hand on his shoulder.

“You’re still in charge of your men and I’m counting on you to keep them calm until we get back. Copy?”

Beaumont nodded again. It seemed appropriate to remind him that he was still a leader of men, in whatever capacity that remained to him. If he could hold it together just a little better than the rest, they were sure to be alright.

“Sergeant,” he turned to Dezba. “Fetch me the biohazard gear. I want this squad coming back heavy.”

Dezba grimaced and went to one of the cabin’s side panels. He slammed his fist down on the release and opened it, revealing a large body bag and a barrel-shaped plastic case. The telltale insignia of a biohazard warning was written on the front.

“Can’t believe we’re headhunting, sir.”

Whitman looked about ready to say something, but Dezba quickly cut him off.

“You say something about some Hopi warrior shit, it’s gonna be your head in this bucket, fool!”

Whitman promptly shut his mouth and cleared his throat. He motioned to the rear door, which sent Whitman back to the front to disengage it.

Yes, he thought. It’s good to have him back.

The door dropped and his squad was out in a matter of seconds. Once outside, they assembled into two groups. Whitman and Kobayashi hung back by the rear door and kept their eyes on the treeline and the road they had just come up. The rest gathered around Braun to the side and waited on Saunders. Opening the laptop again, she began turning to face the right direction and pointed forward.

“Three hundred meters that way. Looks to be down by the water.”

“Alright, squad, two by two cover formation, Saunders in the middle. We move on my say so.”

“Yes sir,” the squad replied. He then waved over at Whitman and Kobayashi, pointed to his eyes and made a circular motion with his finger at their surroundings. Eyes up, was the order. They both nodded their understanding.

*                    *                    *

Everything looked incredibly green in the low morning light. It was something Braun knew well, the color of foliage during various hours of day and night. It would be deep blue when there was no sun, a shade or two lighter than the sky itself. At sun up, as it was now, it lightened to become a deep shade of jade. Not until the sun was directly overhead would it become the vibrant green that everyone knew so well.

The forest creatures were much the same. During the night, there was an intensity to them. Every noise magnified, every sound a terrible din, approaching predators or the haunting cry of owls, wolves and nocturnal creatures. By morning, a peace began to spread over it, the noise receding as the calming reassurance of another day came out. It was in this hour, in the in-between, that life felt strange and uncertain.

Perhaps that feeling was conditioned into the brainstem, something left over from the time of the primates and other furry creatures that called the forest home. It was like an instinct that saw the coming of day as favorable, but still feared the retreating night. Not until it was fully light out would they feel like it was safe to let down their guard, to acknowledged that they had made it through another night.

Braun knew exactly how they felt right now. Even in the presence of all this firepower, he felt on edge. He knew his squad felt much the same. The terrible beeping of the laptop didn’t improve that. If anything, its incessant chiming was keeping pace their hearts, each din striking their nerves like a taut cord.

Saunders waved the box around, aiming the proximity sensor around until it became loudest. She pointed slightly to their left. Braun lowered his visor and raised his weapon, achieving magnification and spotting their route ahead. Beyond the tree line, there was an open field for a few meters, the light breaking in and making the grass shine a bright shade of lime. The opening showed the particular slant on the ground, curving ever so slightly downward towards the east, where the reservoir was located. Since they had taken to proceeding on foot, the target had not moved, remaining just shy of the water.

Braun lowered his weapon and waved forward. The squad began to move with him, Dezba on his right, Saunders behind them, and Mill and Cobb holding up the rear. Slowly, they paced through the underbrush, doing their best not to step on any dry branches or kick stones. At this hour, the Whiskeys would be in a state that was as close to sleep as they got. Up and about, but not exactly cognizant or aware fo their surroundings. They intended to keep it that way for as long as possible.

As soon as they found Pappa Zulu and had him cornered, there would be no way to avoid a confrontation anymore. And in this brush, the odds of being outflanked were far greater. If in fact any Whiskeys did close in from their sides undetected, they would be putting their suits to the test. Reinforced Kevlar had been known to keep their teeth at bay, but they always found a gap. And if they couldn’t find one, they’d do their damnedest to make one.

They reached the clearing, and Braun as about to step into the light. However, a hand descended on his shoulder quickly and he spun around. His heart was beating way faster than the chiming of the laptop now. Gun raised, he found himself looking into the visor of Dezba, who was extending his other hand to him. Braun sighed and lowered his weapon, used his left hand to key the comm.

“Halt, squad,” he ordered. Turning back tot he clearing, he raised his visor and lowered himself into crouching position. Dezba did the same, crouching next to him and raising his visor so they could talk privately.

“What’s on your mind Sergeant?” he asked.

“Just that feeling I get, sir.”

Braun looked at him warily. Several times now, Dezba had got that feeling, usually right before an engagement was imminent. He followed his line of sight and looked at the treeline on the other side.

“You think they might be waiting for us?”

Dezba shook his head. “Don’t know. All I can tell you is, crossing this clearing would be a mistake.”

Braun considered that. The best info they had said that the Whiskeys followed their noses and ears, tracking prey from the noise they made and the pheromones they put out. Living flesh was to them what pollen was to bees, the smell proving an irresistible draw. But he also remembered the night in the Ponderosa pine, another engagement where a canopy of trees had been used to shelter the Whiskey’s approach. The Mage had been pretty clear about the need to reject preconceived notions after that encounter.

“This is their turf,” Braun said finally. “Might as well assume they got the home field advantage.”

“It does kind of mess up our approach, doesn’t it?”

Braun looked back at the squad, then to their left where the trees formed a wall next to the clearing. “We cut to the left, we go around, we’ll be back on it in no time,” he concluded. “Alright, suit up. We’re moving again.”

Dezba nodded, lowered his visor. Braun did the same and keyed the comm again.

“Squad, we’re veering to the left. Keep your eyes up, we might have Deltas in the area.”

Saunders eyed her laptop. As they turned, the noise dimmed, their target no longer directly in their path. It sounded almost mournful, the knowledge that they were turning away from the missions resolution. But no one complained. Orders were orders and no one questioned them.

Two by two, with Saunders holding the center, they began to move again, changing their path to keep within the trees and underbrush. The sun was beginning to get higher in the sky by the time they made it halfway around the clearing, all the leaves and bushes becoming a more lively shade of jade green. Once in awhile, Braun would look to their left and notice how bright the grass had become. He couldn’t quite smell it through his visor, but he imagined it all stunk of fresh soil and even fresher air. The stink of waste and rotting flesh nowhere to be found.

Strange, considering this was the lair of the Pappa Zulu. The one soul who had inadvertently started this whole war. It was an irony he was sure people would appreciate someday, when he told the story to a younger generation who never knew the terror for themselves.

Wishful thinking, he thought. Still got to make it home for that to happen. With that in mind, he turned back to their trail and kept walking.