Sorry if I'm throwing chapters up too often, but now it's done I want to move on with other stories. FanFic didn't send me an e-mail notification about the last chapter going up so I hope all you followers got one.

Chapter 88

What Do You Want For Launch?

With the MTV now only a day away, the time had come to start sending the next batch cargo container pods into orbit. Sarah Spencer looked very confident as she stood near the centre of the Launch Control Room listening to the people around her, expertly doing their jobs.

"Power flow nominal."

"Capacitors at 60% and climbing."

"What's the state of latest linked section?" Sarah asked.

"Good chance it will cope without any teething troubles" the technician monitoring power flows informed her. "Being only a cargo unit, we don't need to worry about pushing the latter sections of the Railgun if we have to make up for a loss in velocity."

"We're at T minus one minute Doctor Spencer."

"Open all external vents" she ordered.

Everyone in the general area knew the time was close when the latest round of launches would commence; so as the time ticked down towards zero, people everywhere stopped what they were doing and looked towards Mount Singgalang.

Ten kilometres south in the town of Padang Panjang, Fariz Amran held up his young granddaughter and showed her which way she should look to see the up and coming space shot. As they waited, Fariz could not stop himself from thinking about his friend Professor Adisa. He had been gone for several months now so Fariz just hoped he was safe and finding out the information he sought.

On a lonely stretch of beach to the west, Emerson Linwood and Peter Moke took a break from their busy schedule and stood on the bow of the giant tanker to get the best view. Ever since Sarah had learned there would in all probability be an attack on the railgun, she had placed one of the highest priorities on moving the most needed equipment off the ship and into the complex where it could still be used, even if they found themselves under an extended siege.

"Won't be long now and my sister will be landing on that runway just over there" the young New Zealander noted to the tall Samoan with him.

"Yeah we put a lot of work into that rebuild" Peter nodded "but it's worth it just to know we can bring anyone back here from space whenever we ever need to."

"I wonder how long it will be before me and Doom will get our turn to go up?" Emerson thought.

"Doom is ready now, but you still need a bit more training" Peter lightly slapped the young man on the back.

"I'm getting there" Emerson nodded "Besides; you and my other instructors have to take some responsibility for why I'm not finished training yet."

This sly comment made Peter throw back his head and laugh.

"We're teaching bro, but you just can't get your mind off a certain young lady long enough to learn anything. Funny thing is though; she seems to have no trouble putting you out of her mind during study time."

"Yeah... it's bit of a worry really" Emerson sighed.

"Aww she loves ya man" Peter smiled "She's just not as obsessed as you are."

Their conversation stopped when both men started to feel the ship vibrating as the surface of the sea rippled; it was as if the tip of a giant tuning fork had been dipped into the water.

"Here we go!" Peter noted as he turned his attention ashore.

A loud hiss caught Emerson's attention and he all spun towards the large cloud of dust erupting fifty metres into the air. In less than a second, another cloud shot up further in the distance followed by a third and a fourth.

As the line of small eruptions disappeared into the jungle, they both noticed that the vibrations were slowly dying away, but then came the sound that made the heart race. It could only be described as the sound of a short burst from a Gatling gun, constructed from the cannons of a World War II battleship (even though such a device would be a physical impossibility).

"And there goes another one" Peter smiled with satisfaction.

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of these launches" Emerson noted, watching through a set of binoculars as the solid booster rocket ignited.

As soon as the Hyperloop pod arrived back in the bunker, Sage retired to Redding's old house to make plans. After he had worked at Redding's hidden computer for a few hours, he sent for his guards and told them to fetch Professor Adisa. They did as ordered quickly and efficiently, and they soon had the Professor sitting handcuffed to a nearby chair.

"This is a marvellous set up; I'm so glad the old fool didn't bother to hide it away before I shot him" Sage said.

"So why do you want me here; do you want to play Need for Speed on that thing?"

"Hardly Professor" Sage frowned "When I found this integrated control system, it had unfortunately timed out so I could not access all of its files and features. Not knowing the pass code, I had no other choice but to try my own access I.D. and was pleased to see it gave me some access, even if it was only limited."

"I assume that means you can only play Mah-jong" Linton smirked.

"It means that for all his faults, Redding knew some day he may have to rely on me to protect him, so he has given me access to all defensive... and offensive weapons."

"Ironic since you were the one who...did you say offensive weapons?" Professor Adisa started to worry.

"I did indeed" Sage was in his element "From here I can fire upon troops, an armoured column and of course, an air attack. Redding even has missiles that can shoot down a space ship in low Earth orbit."

"So what do you want from me?" Linton was loathed to ask.

"Believe it or not, you too have limited access to this system. Not as high a level of myself, but there may be information files you can get to that may be useful for me; unlikely but worth a try."

Sage walked around the Professor and unlocked his handcuffs before hoisting the old man up by the elbow and half dragging him to the computer and throwing him into the chair. Linton did not want to cooperate but he was concerned about being too obstructive with Sage. The memory stick containing a large number of Redding's private files was still hidden inside the Professors shoe; a rather obvious place but Linton hoped Sage would not have him searched again because he had already been a prisoner of Redding's for several weeks, and causing trouble for Sage could change all that.

"Type in you access code" Sage demanded.

It was no secret that Redding did not like the Professor, so it was highly unlikely Sage would discover anything useful, or of great importance. Hoping for the best, Linton did as he was ordered.

"YOW!"

As soon as the Professor has typed the code and pressed the enter key, the chair in which he sat administered a sharp electric shock. Sage could not believe what he had just seen as the old man leapt out of the offending chair.

"Oh that was priceless" he laughed "Just think; Redding that miserable old swine, set the whole thing up just in case you should ever find your way here and try to use his computer."

"Yes... yes very funny" Linton gasped as his heart raced.

"Oh lighten up Professor, you're not dead... yet" Sage continued to laugh.

I'm now getting to the usual stage of worrying what everyone will think of the ending (just like I did with the other stories). The good thing is though, no one got upset before so I have no reason to think you will now.

Even so, I am now offering a 100% money back guarantee to anyone who didn't like the story. In order to qualify for the refund, please complete the following steps:
1: Send me a truck load of money
2: Write a detailed 1000 word critique of each and every chapter, detailing what you did not like about them
3: Tell me where to send the returned truck load of cash (less transport and handling fees)
4: Wait 4 to 6 weeks for delivery... or was that years? Decades perhaps?

This offer is only open to readers silly enough to believe that I am a Nigerian Prince.