AL:ICE-9 by Charles Lamb Page B

appeared at the most unusual times.
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    After breakfast, Jake had excused himself, stating he wanted to try to get some work done. With that, Sara announced she was off to the command center on some errand of her own, though Jake noted she had chosen not to expand on it. Kathy, the last of the three, declared she was going to have a little more coffee and then head off to medical for her normal shift.
    Instead of finding a vacant office, Jake just returned to his room and grabbing a seat at the desk, hit the display button on his terminal and set about reviewing his personal communications. Jake directed ALICE to classify information on his “Special Project” for his eyes only. This was in contradiction to most of the daily reports, which were available to all staff personnel unless they involved things like personal medical information.
    As a rule Jake hated keeping secrets, if you were good enough to recruit and passed the ALICEs two-week post recruitment psych evaluation, you can be trusted. This information, however, would become disruptive once out, so he wanted all his ducks in a row first.
    Jacob reported he was finished with the first 10 prototypes, per Jake’s request, and the test results had proven better than expected. Both Abby and Joe, Jake’s personally selected testers, had reported their satisfaction with the initial two prototypes and the expanded test group all reported similar results with a minimum of requested changes. Jake could hardly wait to get his own shot at one but knew that had to wait.
    In separate communications, both Abby and Joe had reported on the other assigned activities outside of the testing work they were performing. Each assured Jake that their training was on schedule and that the individual and joint exercises he had assigned them were on track for completion within the next two weeks. They both expressed a desire for Jake to allow them to demonstrate how effective their newly acquired skills would be in practical use.
    Jake was quite positive, given their personal relationship, that both Joe and Abby knew exactly what the other was sending him. However, Jake could separate out just enough from each to feel confident they were in fact progressing right on schedule and to the necessary level of excellence. He knew what he needed for this project to succeed.
    The last few months had Jake concerned over the ever-escalating aggression, both at home, and in space. If things continued on this track, he was going to find himself in a two front war with dissention on earth and with the NeHaw above. With the NeHaw, he had hoped to be using the stasis shields, rail guns, and RF bombs in a direct run on their home world. With that, he could knock them so far back on their heels, earth could have time to rebuild in earnest.
    Now that he understood they didn’t exactly know where the home world was, the rail guns upset the faster than light field generation and while the RF bombs would make great land mines, the NeHaw would explode them far sooner and much farther out, minimizing their effectiveness. However, doing a planetary bombardment like the one earth had received had distinct possibilities.
    Never being the kind of person who wallowed in self-pity, this simply meant that Jake had to focus on front two for immediate actionable resolution. Jake had always maintained two daily routines since he started this new life. The first was his daily workout, it wasn’t always first thing in the morning and with these ribs it was on hold, but he would do some form of exercise. The second was a review of all the status reports provided from every ALICE location and community patrol.
    The internal reports he scanned for irregularities. When organizations start to become routine, the odd items jump off the page and foretell trouble. The community reports gave Jake a sense of the world at large, or rather the parts they were directly influencing. If one area increased the quantity or type